LCFA awarded $180,000 from Wyoming to rebuild Fire Station 74
LCFA Chief Jason Caughey told state officials a staff member was welding one of the fire trucks in Fire Station 74 a few hours before the fire was spotted. The staff member went home around 4 p.m., three-and-a-half hours before the witnesses driving down Yellowstone Road spotted the fire.
'It appears that where he was welding, it was the ignition source,' Caughey said.
Last week, Caughey approached the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) to ask for $250,000 in emergency MRG funding. This amount made up the 32% of construction costs to rebuild the fire station that wasn't covered by insurance.
The Office of State Lands and Investments, which oversees this grant funding, found this project did not meet the 'emergency' threshold. It deferred the LCFA's application for regular mineral royalty grant (MRG) funding, which would be approved during the board's special meeting in June. The state fire marshal and Wyoming forestry division echoed this recommendation.
However, Caughey said LCFA couldn't wait that long for funding. The Laramie County Planning Department utilizes an emergency building permit program in the event of a natural disaster or fire. If the facility is rebuilt within one year, 'it doesn't have to jump through all of the same hoops that a normal building process would.'
'By not being able to complete this project within one year, it's going to cost us and the taxpayers a significant amount more money,' Caughey said. 'To rebuild that same existing station today, I anticipate 25% more.'
Without the emergency grant funding, Caughey said the county fire authority would have to take out a loan, and the interest would be paid for by Laramie County taxpayers.
An OSLI staff member said during last week's SLIB meeting the application was incomplete, missing two documents. SLIB members agreed to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the matter, once the documents were submitted.
In both meetings, State Auditor Kristi Racines asked Caughey if a $100,000 grant would be sufficient. Caughey answered that partial funding 'would be greatly appreciated.'
'It allows us to continue this project moving forward without throwing the bigger wrench of no (state) funding into this project,' he said.
State Treasurer Curt Meier asked about the details of the newly constructed fire house, such as installing a fire alarm system that's tied into a central system. Caughey said a centralized monitoring system will be installed, 'which will give us early detection of any events that happened in that building.'
Racines moved to grant $180,000 in emergency MRG funding, which passed the board. Caughey later told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle the LCFA will be able to absorb the remaining $70,000 into its current funding mechanisms, without any impact on local taxpayers.
'We're grateful for the support of the State Land Investment Board today, for funding the additional $180,000 toward the rebuild of Station 74,' Caughey said. 'We don't believe the difference that's remaining will have any impact on the project.'
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CHEYENNE – Wyoming's top five elected officials voted Wednesday to award $180,000 in emergency mineral royalty grant funding to the Laramie County Fire Authority to rebuild a fire station that burned down in mid-January. LCFA Chief Jason Caughey told state officials a staff member was welding one of the fire trucks in Fire Station 74 a few hours before the fire was spotted. The staff member went home around 4 p.m., three-and-a-half hours before the witnesses driving down Yellowstone Road spotted the fire. 'It appears that where he was welding, it was the ignition source,' Caughey said. Last week, Caughey approached the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) to ask for $250,000 in emergency MRG funding. This amount made up the 32% of construction costs to rebuild the fire station that wasn't covered by insurance. The Office of State Lands and Investments, which oversees this grant funding, found this project did not meet the 'emergency' threshold. It deferred the LCFA's application for regular mineral royalty grant (MRG) funding, which would be approved during the board's special meeting in June. The state fire marshal and Wyoming forestry division echoed this recommendation. However, Caughey said LCFA couldn't wait that long for funding. The Laramie County Planning Department utilizes an emergency building permit program in the event of a natural disaster or fire. If the facility is rebuilt within one year, 'it doesn't have to jump through all of the same hoops that a normal building process would.' 'By not being able to complete this project within one year, it's going to cost us and the taxpayers a significant amount more money,' Caughey said. 'To rebuild that same existing station today, I anticipate 25% more.' Without the emergency grant funding, Caughey said the county fire authority would have to take out a loan, and the interest would be paid for by Laramie County taxpayers. An OSLI staff member said during last week's SLIB meeting the application was incomplete, missing two documents. SLIB members agreed to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the matter, once the documents were submitted. In both meetings, State Auditor Kristi Racines asked Caughey if a $100,000 grant would be sufficient. Caughey answered that partial funding 'would be greatly appreciated.' 'It allows us to continue this project moving forward without throwing the bigger wrench of no (state) funding into this project,' he said. State Treasurer Curt Meier asked about the details of the newly constructed fire house, such as installing a fire alarm system that's tied into a central system. Caughey said a centralized monitoring system will be installed, 'which will give us early detection of any events that happened in that building.' Racines moved to grant $180,000 in emergency MRG funding, which passed the board. Caughey later told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle the LCFA will be able to absorb the remaining $70,000 into its current funding mechanisms, without any impact on local taxpayers. 'We're grateful for the support of the State Land Investment Board today, for funding the additional $180,000 toward the rebuild of Station 74,' Caughey said. 'We don't believe the difference that's remaining will have any impact on the project.'
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'To rebuild that same existing station today, I anticipate 25% more.' In mid-January, Laramie County firefighters responded to a structure fire at one of their own stations, Fire Station 74 on Yellowstone Road. Three wildland firefighter trucks were lost, along with the station itself. Caughey submitted an application for emergency mineral royalty grant (MRG) funding a week before the deadline. The Office of State Lands and Investments (OSLI) approved the LCFA's project application but found it did not constitute 'emergency' MRG funds. The OSLI recommended deferring the fire authority's application for regular MRG funds, which would be approved during the SLIB's special meeting on June 20. The Wyoming State Fire Marshal's Office and Wyoming State Forestry Division also did not believe the application qualified for emergency funding from the state. In a combined letter to SLIB members, these officials found the cost of this project 'appears to fall within the funds available to the district to construct without additional financial assistance,' among other reasons to disqualify it for emergency funds. But, according to Caughey, the LCFA is 'pinching pennies.' Aside from their depleted reserves, the LCFA took a major hit from a new property tax cut bill that was recently passed by the Wyoming Legislature. 'This year, we've lost 25% of our revenue from property tax,' Caughey said, 'which doesn't sound significant, but it's $250,000 out of our $2 million budget.' Salaries eat up 80% of the fire authority's total budget, he added. 'What few pennies we have left are going to be augmented to make sure that we can continue to supply the services to our community,' he said. An emotional loss Any fire structure loss can be a devastating event, and LCFA firefighters weren't exempt from the emotional devastation of responding to a fire at one of their own stations. Fire Station 74 had been a part of the fire community for over 50 years, since it was first built in 1974. The LCFA chief told state officials a staff member was welding on one of the fire trucks in Fire Station 74 a few hours before the fire. The staff member went home around 4 p.m., three-and-a-half hours before the witnesses driving down Yellowstone Road spotted the fire. 'It appears that where he was welding, it was the ignition source,' Caughey said. Caughey previously told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle it was a lesson in empathy for many of the firefighters who'd never personally lost a home or property in a structure fire before. 'Any time you respond to your own fire station for an incident like that, it's emotional because of the connection that our fires have to their own buildings,' Caughey said. 'Understanding the emotions that go with an event like this is going to make our firefighters better when dealing with the citizens and their tragedies.' Nearly lost in the structure fire was the locker of late Assistant Chief Charles 'Chuck' Scottini, a 'true grit' volunteer firefighter, according to Laramie County Fire District 1 Chief Darrick Mittlestadt. '(He was) one of those 'true grit' volunteers that came in and would work on things over the weekends and take care of the trucks, the station, projects, help with training and everything else,' Mittlestadt said. Scottini died in April 2021, six months after he contracted COVID-19 while on a wildland fire assignment in Colorado. He had been a firefighter with Laramie County Fire District 2 since 1998. Scottini's locker in Station 74 was saved, according to Caughey.
