Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By P.J. GLISSON
Wakefield — If federal grant funds are approved, the Wakefield Volunteer Fire Department may result with a new fire truck worth as much as half a million dollars.
Fire Chief Mike Singleton told the Daily Globe last week that he and his staff are working to complete an application for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The department’s baseline request will be for $276,000, but Singleton said that up to $500,000 in grant funds could be possible and that the higher amount would allow the department to buy a custom-built vehicle best suited to their needs.
The chief said the department also plans to request a smaller grant for new extrication equipment, expected to cost about $42,000.
He said their existing extrication equipment cost $7,500 and is gas-powered, whereas new equipment — if funded — would be battery-operated. “It’s a whole lot more mobile,” he said and added that it also has “fewer working parts to go wrong,” including “no pumps or hoses.”
Singleton is expecting the Wakefield City Council to issue its blessing on the applications in a special meeting before Feb. 4, which is the due date set by FEMA.
The chief expects responses to the applications by about mid-summer.
He conceded that “only in a perfect world” could the department expect to receive both grants, but he hopes to get a thumbs up on at least one.
If truck funding occurs, the chief said it could be another year or more before a new vehicle is actually in the possession of the department.
In that event, he said department members may consider selling their 1990 pumper, which is still in service but does not meet modern-day standards.
He added that department members expect to continue using a 2005 pumper tanker and a 1991 brush truck, both of which are in good condition.
