LAKE MILTON Approved pacts pave way for fire station construction

The fire department is providing smoke-alarm batteries free to residents.
By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
LAKE MILTON -- Construction of a new fire station is about to begin.
The new station will be built behind the township administration building and will serve as a multipurpose facility, Chief Rick Pellin said at Tuesday's trustee meeting. The building, estimated to cost about $795,000, should be ready sometime next spring, he added.
Contracts for about that amount were approved Tuesday night and work should begin any day. Temporary funding is coming from Farmer's National Bank, but permanent funding will be from World Development Agency of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, according to Rick Daniels, an equipment officer for the fire department.
Smoke detectors
Pellin and Daniels reminded area residents that this is the time of year they should get their chimneys cleaned and buy smoke detectors for their homes. Those who have detectors should make sure the batteries are working, and the fire department is offering free batteries, Pellin said.
Carbon-monoxide poisoning is also a high danger during the fall -- especially in homes with coal, wood-burning or oil furnaces, Daniels said. People can buy carbon-monoxide detectors that will alert them to dangerously high levels of the odorless and colorless gas in their homes, he said.
Pellin pointed out firefighters typically see the highest number of house and structure fires during October through December, largely because those are the months when residents begin using their fireplaces and furnaces.
During the summer, creosote, a substance made up of tar and other materials, often builds up inside people's chimneys and creates a narrow opening for the smoke to escape. When fireplaces are used again, the material heats up from the smoke and can cause a fire inside the chimney -- which can easily spread, Pellin said.
Feeling a draft from inside a chimney is a good way to tell if it needs attention, he added.
Pellin and Daniels said that many residents in rural areas use oil and wood furnaces that need to be checked this time of year. Oil doesn't burn as cleanly as gas, and materials can build up in such furnaces, creating a hazard, they said.
Daniels said the fire department recently received a $99,000 Department of Homeland Security grant that the department will use to buy new equipment. Included will be a thermal imaging camera, a device that detects heat and makes it easier for rescuers to see a person's location through thick smoke, he said.
Grant money for projects
In other business, Trustee Al Baker announced that the township has received about $93,000 in grant money for projects in 2004.
A $41,300 grant will be used to pave Summerset and Recreation drives in the Catalpa Grove area; a $26,500 Mahoning County Recycling grant will go toward building a boardwalk with treated lumber and other materials along Mahoning Avenue over Lake Milton. Both projects should begin next spring, Baker said.
Grant money was also used to pave Pico Street, Harbor Drive and Forest and Willard avenues earlier this year, he added.