New, bigger Blanchard Township fire station coming

BENTON RIDGE — To residents seeing the vacant space where the Blanchard Township offices and fire station burnt down over a year ago, it appears that little has happened to replace it. But looks can be deceiving. Township officials have been working hard daily since the loss of the building. First priority was to keep protecting residents and businesses from fire. For a while, the township made do with an old station on County Road 140 recently vacated by its neighbor, the Liberty Township Fire Department. It also has gotten help from firefighters in Mount Cory, Rawson, Liberty Township and McComb in responding to fires. Blanchard Township had to replace two trucks and other equipment and supplies destroyed in the fire. It now is temporarily keeping some firetrucks in a township storage building. And of course, there have been endless phone calls and meetings with the insurance company, and with engineers and regulators in designing the new $1 million building. The fruits of those efforts will first appear in September, when concrete work is completed. The building must be up and weather-tight by the end of November. It is expected to be completed by year-end. "The public, they drive by, they don't see much happening, but there has not been a day that has gone by that something has not been done to get this thing rebuilt," said Blanchard Township Trustee Evan Jackson. Township officials and firefighters have all teamed up in the effort, but the point man, the guy who took the bull by the horns, Jackson said, was Trustee and Assistant Fire Chief Rob Burner. The COVID-19 pandemic threw more headwinds at Burner and the township. "Prices skyrocketed out of control on metal buildings to anything inside inventory-wise, turnout gear for the guys, that we lost," Burner said. "The list is unbelievable of what we lost in the fire." After finding out what the insurance company was willing to pay, Burner and others worked with Bockrath & Associates, of Ottawa, to design a new building. "We set down and drew a plan similar to what we had, but we scaled it up a bit because these trucks are not getting any smaller," Burner said. At 7,800 square feet, the new building will be nearly 60% larger than its predecessor, which was cramped, Jackson said. It will have four bays for firetrucks and four bays for township snow plows and other equipment. What has taken the most time over the months has been complying with building code requirements, Burner said. Some examples: • The building must be accessible throughout for disabled persons. On election days, the building will be a place where people come to vote. • The building must have a steel storm shelter to protect firefighters and employees from extreme weather. • The building will have fire walls. "There's so much regulation, so many details that we had to work through, the bid process," Jackson said. "There has not been a single day that at least one of the trustees has not been working on this. It's been a long process. I know it's taken a while, but I think we've done it the fastest we can and the best we can."