By Leia Baez
Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
RALSTON, Neb. — When a “for sale” sign went up on the 49-year-old building next door, officials of the Ralston Volunteer Fire Department had visions of what they could do with the place:
Knocking vent holes in the roof with axes. Breaking out windows. Running water-filled hoses through the stairwell.
In short, the perfect training facility was right next door.
The Fire Department jumped at the opportunity to buy, said Ralston Fire Chief Kyle Ienn, using emergency funds to pay $78,000 for the building in July. Fire officials feared that if they didn’t act quickly, the building would be sold to another buyer, Ienn said.
Now, the department is seeking reimbursement for the purchase from the City of Ralston as the city plans its spending for the next fiscal year. The City Council will hold a public hearing on its preliminary budget Tuesday. The budget could be approved immediately after the hearing.
The Fire Department is making its request at a time when the budget is tight, City Councilman Jerry Krause said.
“The council wants to help. It’s just a question of where do we come up with the extra money,” Krause said. “The budget was pretty much done when these guys came in and presented to us.”
He said reimbursing the department in the future might be more likely.
“If sales tax money and keno money pick up, we will be in a better position to help next year,” Krause said.
Ienn said the city would take ownership of the new training facility if it reimburses the Fire Department for the purchase. The city already owns the fire station at 7629 Park Drive, directly west of the training facility.
Waiting for reimbursement still is better than losing out on buying the building, Ienn said.
“It may take time, and that’s fine,” he said. “Either way, we are glad we did it and that we have our own training facility.”
Training Chief Brad Philippi said frequent training is necessary to keep the department’s 30 volunteer firefighters up to speed on firefighting techniques.
From Nov. 1, 2005, to Oct. 31, 2006, the Fire Department received 603 emergency calls. Of those, only 20 were fire calls; 400 were for rescue and emergency medical services.
Some of Ralston’s firefighters have started training in the facility. The rescue squad also will train there, Philippi and Ienn said.
To make training drills more realistic, the Fire Department will soon renovate the interior of the building to make it look more like a house.
That work could cost the department as much as $15,000, Philippi and Ienn said. The department will seek donations from hardware stores and Goodwill to furnish the building and to renovate and maintain the facility.
Ienn said the department would operate the training facility on the department’s existing training budget.
Previously, volunteers used the fire station as their training hub, but drills were limited.
“Just about anything can be done here,” Philippi said of the new facility.
The building could even be smoked out with a theater smoke machine and blacked out so firefighters could practice using thermal imaging equipment.
Philippi said he plans to change the floor patterns frequently so firefighters don’t become accustomed to one search pattern. He also wants to put in a trap door on the main level to simulate what a firefighter experiences when falling through a floor during a fire.
The building will not be set on fire because the department would then have to shoulder repair costs.
The nearly 3,000-square-foot building once was home to Schomer Bros. Construction Co. Brothers Roland Schomer and the late Lawrence Schomer built it in 1958 and used it for several years before leasing it to other businesses, including a flooring company and, most recently, a heating and air conditioning company.
Other cities and public-safety organizations also will be welcomed to use the facility, Ienn and Philippi said.
Copyright 2007 Omaha World - Herald