Fountain public safety crews renew call for new fire station

Fire and police officials in Fountain agreed Thursday with many residents about the need for a fire station on the east side of town.

The issue has existed for several years but came to light again last weekend after a spectacular fire behind a home on Wineglass Road.

Although the fire turned out to be not as bad as it looked, neighbors were concerned it would spread and emergency crews would be stalled at railroad crossings, delaying the response time.

Fire Chief Darin Anstine said trains were not a factor in responding to the weekend fire.

“For about the past six years, we’ve been working, trying to get a fire house on the southeast side of our city, because that is our longest response area,” he said. “We did two ballot measures, the last one being two years ago, that failed by about 200 votes.”

Of the town’s three existing fire stations, two are along the main route and one is on the north end.

“We could probably build a new station for under a million dollars,” Anstine said. “But the money just isn’t there right now.”

Police say trains regularly delay their response times, as well.

“We have four routes across the tracks to the east side,” said Lt. Tommy Coates. “When a train is going north or south through the city, it routinely blocks all four of those options for us. They only travel at 30 miles per hour. It’s a slow process for safety reasons.”

Authorities and citizens said the fear is when, not if, a delay could result in a life loss or a property destroyed.

Police said they hope any plans for an east side fire station will include a police substation.

“We try to have officers patrolling on the east side as often as possible to avoid a train delay,” Coates said. “But that’s not always possible.”

Felix Lopez lives next door to the town’s main fire station and said he donated land for it to be built. He said east side residents deserve the same peace of mind that he has.

“The trains come here and paralyze everything,” he said. “There’s no going around them. I know people voted against a new station because they don’t want to pay more taxes. But we always pay a bit more, here and there. Why not do it for something that’s needed?”

Authorities said growth, traffic and weather also can contribute to longer response times.

Anstine said he’ll work with the City Council to bring a fire station to the east side.

In a related matter, investigators ruled the cause of the Wineglass Road fire as accidental.

Anstine said the fire started in a wood-burning stove located in or near a shed, spread to an adjacent garage and singed a house.

What sparked the fire in the stove remains unclear but Anstine explained why neighbors heard explosions and said the fire burned intensely.

“That’s because of the products that were in the shed, and (the resident) does some body repair work on cars, some painting, etc.,” he said. “So we knew there was some paint and other accelerants in there, and so when they caught fire is what the folks saw.”