43
Bristol gets $2.2 million for fire station
By ED RUNYAN
BRISTOLVILLE
Photo
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, of Niles, D-17th, speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for the $2.235 million Bristol Fire Station. Behind him is the site where the station will be built along state Route 88 in Bristolville. The ceremony was Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan stood on the edge of a cornfield near the center of Bristol Township and said he hopes the success of township officials in securing $2.2 million in federal dollars to build a new fire station is a message to the entire community.
“We need to go out and take these little chances. You never get hurt by just trying,” he said Thursday.
The chance Ryan, of Niles, D-17th, was referring to was the grant application written by Steve Craiger, assistant Bristol Township fire chief, to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for an Assistance to Firefighters Grant.
The odds were long — only 100 projects were funded out of 7,000 applications.
But township officials took some preliminary steps, such as purchasing land just west of the center of Bristolville and talking to an architect about the project.
Ryan said that kind of thinking is refreshing because the Mahoning Valley has had an inferiority complex since the region’s steel industry fell on hard times a generation ago.
“I’m here to tell you when you’re getting $2 million in Bristol for a fire station, you are doing something right,” he said. “And it’s not just a fire station. It’s cutting-edge technology, it’s energy efficiency. It should be celebrated.”
Construction on the station will begin next week and take about nine months. The fire department needed the station to accommodate its growth as a result of a decision several years ago to provide 24-hour fire and emergency medical services.
Office space was modified to provide living quarters for personnel, but it contains no lockers or shower facilities or training space and isn’t big enough to house all of the department’s firetrucks.
“This is by far the greatest accomplishment for Bristol Fire Department and for Bristol Township, I think in its history, definitely the greatest in my career,” said Fire Chief Roger French.
Ryan, who recently was appointed to the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee, announced last week that $18 million in research and product-development projects are expected to head to the Mahoning Valley as a result of the committee’s work.
The projects all capitalize on — and help develop — the research capabilities of Youngstown State University, Ryan said.
The projects encourage cooperation among YSU, the Youngstown Business Incubator and Warren Tech Belt Energy Innovative Center and local industries to identify and develop new technologies, he said.
Mahoning Valley companies such as Ajax Tocco of Warren and M7 Technologies of Youngstown already are working on advanced manufacturing techniques, he said, and the new projects will bolster those efforts, he said.
Ryan has secured about 15 earmarks, totaling about $30 million, for projects involving YSU since he became congressman seven years ago, he said. Before him, there were none, he said.