The Paola Fire Department will soon have a new, more reliable, offsite building for communication equipment, Right now, it is housed in an old metal building under the water tower. Fire Chief Andy Martin, described it as basically and old garden shed, with holes in the wall from woodpeckers. The Paola City Council has selected Triangle Builders to build the new building for just over $73,000. While some council members expressed concern about the high cost, Martin told them the equipment needs to be protected with grounding and walls thick enough to withstand winds up to 150 mph. The approved plans from Triangle Builders include a concrete slab floor and concrete roof along with eight inch thick concrete walls with two inches of foam on both sides.
The building will be larger. It will also have heating and cooling window units to control the temperature, which is necessary because the equipment can get hot. Work is currently underway to construct the new Communications Shelter and Martin says the old building may be demolished in the future, by firefighters as part of a training session.
