Austintown firefighters celebrate creatively financed station renovation

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Austintown

The thriftiness of Assistant Fire Chief Andy Frost III saved the township money and helped fully furnish its renovated station.

On Sept. 11, 15 part-time firefighters and a Lane LifeTRANs ambulance crew moved back into the fire station on South Raccoon Road after a six-month-long construction project.

In 2009, the department secured a $333,000 grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to update the station, which was 50 years old and in serious disrepair.

Frost wrote the grant application and said the station was filled with black mold, had a roof with major leakage problems and wasn’t large enough to accommodate the crew plus the Lane’s EMTs who work in pairs on 24-hour shifts.

“Lane’s crew used to sleep in a tiny utility closet with a bunk bed,” he said. “Back then, this station wasn’t built to be fully manned.”

The renovations included a new roof, a two-story addition on the back of the station with two separate living quarters and bathrooms for men and women, and a completely new interior, Frost said.

Spending only the amount allotted in the grant required department personnel to get creative. They auctioned off pieces of the original firehouse kitchen, built in the mid-1950s by Youngstown Kitchen Cabinet Co., and made $600 to use on furniture, paint and supplies for the interior. Frost said they used that money to buy used furnishings for the facility.

He also said the department’s crews did much of the interior painting, tear-out work and cleanup to save on construction costs, he said.

“Our trustees have been really good about matching their 10 percent in other grants, so we wanted to stay within our budget on this,” he said.

“We were able to capitalize on cost-saving measures, and it’s a great station, compared to what it was.”

Trustee Lisa Oles said the board is thankful that the fire department was careful enough to complete the project without dipping into the general fund.

“I’m elated at the fact that we didn’t have to take any money out of our fund to complete the project,” she said. “I think that what Andy [Frost] did in filling out the grants for the township is a prime example of our employees who go over and above in their positions.”

Frost said Lane also added its contribution by fully furnishing its employees’ common room. Oles said the company also agreed to pay for resurfacing of a portion of the station’s parking lot.

“It’s wonderful because it’s a building that needed updating,” she said. “I think it’s great.”