New wing command facility a shared home at Fairchild

Construction is officially under way on a new, long-awaited wing command headquarters at Fairchild Air Force Base.

Community leaders and military officials broke ground on the new headquarters Tuesday. The facility will be home to the active-duty 92nd Air Refueling Wing and the Washington Air National Guard 141st Air Refueling Wing headquarters.

“It’ll be hard to say goodbye to this 70-year-old building that sits across the street,” Col. Paul Guemmer, 92nd Air Refueling Wing Commander, said of the current facility, which is known as the White House.

But, he added, “We’re working in a building that is not energy efficient. It is not structurally sound. It doesn’t have a fire suppression system. It doesn’t meet any kind of code for blast protection, for anti-terrorism force protection.”

The $11.2 million contract was awarded to Jackson Contractor Group Inc. of Missoula on April 25.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee, helped secure funding for the new facility. She said the new facility, along with a new runway, make Fairchild a top candidate for basing the new tanker aircraft and ensuring the base’s longevity.

“The economic importance of having this base here cannot be overstated,” she said.

In July 2010, Murray said the Air Force “made it clear” that replacing the wing command headquarters was not a priority, so she wrote a letter to then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, urging him to prioritize the new facility.

“We owe it to the commands to provide an appropriate and efficient building that meets their requirements in order to best benefit them as they jointly operate,” said Murray, who called the project “long overdue.”

The new building is in line with an effort to integrate active-duty airmen and air National Guardsmen with the goal of improving the Air Force’s ability to share resources.

“The 141st is excited we’re finally getting the facility with the 92nd that’s built for a partnership,” said Col. Richard Kelly, 141st Air Refueling Wing Commander. “I think that will be very exciting for us and I look forward to the synergism we’ll get from that, as well as the efficiencies.”

Spokane residents donated the land the current facility sits on in 1943 to support the war effort; it was the first building at Fairchild.

“It’s a building that has served its country well, but I think by the time we retire this building at 70 years old, it’s safe to say it’s done its duty to Fairchild and the Spokane community,” Guemmer said. “All we can hope is this new building and the design that goes into it will last the test of time like the White House has done,” he said.