Fire district to close Scanlon station

The fire station in Scanlon will be eliminated as part of a new long-term plan for the Cloquet Area Fire District.

Fire District chief Jesse Buhs is aiming for a financially leaner fire district in the coming years. He and other staff spent the past year coming up with a plan to make the district more financially sustainable, build reserves and ultimately save taxpayer dollars, Buhs said. Board members approved the changes unanimously Wednesday at their monthly meeting, with CAFD chairwoman Linda Way calling it a "new way of doing things."

The plan will bring significant changes, first and foremost the closure of Station 3 in Scanlon. Buhs said response times to Scanlon won't be affected.

"Historically, career staff responding from Station 1 in Cloquet has arrived at the same time, or shortly before our paid-on-call staff, so response times of first arriving units in the Scanlon area will remain as they typically have been," he said.

The fire chief explained that closing the paid-on-call fire station - based at the former Scanlon elementary school - will eliminate redundant services and would ultimately reduce the equipment fleet because they wouldn't need a separate fire engine in Scanlon.

Instead, the district would sell a fire truck (Engine 3, which was slated for replacement in three years) and a rescue vehicle. CAFD would purchase a new combined unit to serve as both primary rescue vehicle and fire engine out of Station 1 on Cloquet Avenue.

Combining the two units also will help with already tight parking at the station, where ambulances and fire trucks line the garage area two or three deep in many places.

As part of the reduction plan, the district would also eliminate one wildland firefighting vehicle and one utility pickup.

Buhs also recommended the board keep staffing numbers at the current level - 10, 9 and 9 for the three full-time shifts - which is actually a reduction of two approved (but unfilled) positions.

"If we see a rise in call volume or a larger service area, we will look at adding staff," he said. "For now, we will look to maintain staffing levels."

In total, the fire chief estimated the district could save as much as $3 million over the next 10 years: $2.3 million in equipment costs plus $180,000 a year in staffing costs, which will add up.

"I commend you. That's a tremendous amount of savings," board member and Cloquet city councilor Sheila Lamb said.

District officials also can use the estimated $250,000 to $300,000 from selling vehicles toward the purchase of the combined rescue and fire engine, which is expected to cost close to $750,000.

"This isn't smoke and mirrors," Buhs told the Pine Knot. "By reducing the size of our apparatus fleet, we eliminate bills for maintenance and for replacement. We buy one piece of equipment that is a little more expensive than budgeted, but $450,000 less than if you bought both pieces of equipment and save on costs for maintaining both."

Not everything will happen all at once. The formation of the plan was methodical and slow, and the implementation will take time as well.

Buhs said they hope to move out of Scanlon by July 1, but it could take longer and they plan to help the city pay the bills there for a while, or until they can find a new tenant. The new fire/rescue vehicle would not be delivered for approximately 30 months.

CAFD is also not giving up on its dream of building a new fire station, but Buhs said it doesn't look like the state legislature is moving on the CAFD bonding request for $10 million toward construction costs this year.

Rather than put off improvements to Station 1 on Cloquet Avenue any longer, the fire district will be investing more in the building, including a new exhaust system which would keep particulates and carbon dioxide from entering the ventilation system, which serves both the garage and living spaces there.

"For now we will keep making repairs and trying to extend the lifespan of the building," Buhs said. "We've already outgrown it - it's just a question how long we can maintain operations here."