Fire-sewer station proposed
Kidd Island Bay homeowners may soon have quicker fire response times if the local fire district is able to join forces with the neighborhood sewer district to construct a new building to house both a fire station and sewer station.
The new station would be located on Hull Loop, about two miles from its intersection with Kidd Island Road on the west side of Lake Coeur d’Alene.
“It will reduce our vehicle response time from 15 minutes to five minutes,” said Acting Fire Chief Bob Crawford.
Currently, all firefighting apparatus are located at the district’s station seven miles away near the Grange on Highway 95.
The Mica Kidd Island Fire Protection District and Kidd Island Bay Lots Sewer District request for a conditional use permit to build the new station will go before the Kootenai County hearing examiner on April 17.
About 1,500 homes are within the Mica Kidd Island Bay Fire Protection District, with about 100 neighboring the Hull Loop property, Crawford said. About 50 percent of the district’s medical calls would be served from the new station.
Medical responses are already faster than fire calls because volunteer medics take some equipment home with them and don’t have to go to the station first.
Still, some equipment must be stored at a station, including automatic defibrillators, backboards and, of course, fire trucks.
Crawford said the current station lacks enough garage space to store all the vehicles inside, so a new station would also solve that problem. The plan is for two bays at Hull Loop.
Joining with the sewer district to build one structure, with one parking would save both money, said Mica Kidd Island Fire Board Member Larry Mundt.
“We met with them and said, ‘Wouldn’t it make more sense to co-locate?’ ” Mundt said. “It will save the taxpayers money.”
The fire district has already been saving money for the station so taxes would not need to be increased to build it, he added.
Long-range plans call for a third fire station at the fire district’s southern end.