Wheeling sprinkler project still alive

By December, a Wheeling fire station should have the fire safety equipment the village requires all new construction single-family homes to have.

“I’m pleasantly surprised,” Fire Chief Keith MacIsaac said after the village board voted to table a motion that would have turned down a $47,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency grant the village obtained to put sprinklers in the fire station located at 780 S. Wheeling Road.

Since the building was built in 1978, it is not subject to the 2003 ordinance and is up to code without sprinklers.

The fire chief proposed the village turn down the grant because the lowest of the six bids for the project was still $20,000 more than the grant. The village had anticipated paying $4,000, but issues with connecting the water main to the sprinkler system pushed the bids over budget.

“Why are we having firemen in a building that’s not sprinkler safe?” Trustee Kenneth Brady asked.

The building is staffed around-the-clock by five firefighters.

Other trustees said that waiting to do the work would just result in the village having to pay more.

“The longer we wait, it’s still going to be $70,000, but there’s no guarantee there’s still going to be a grant,” Trustee Dean Argiris said.

The building houses more than $6 million worth of equipment.

MacIsaac said he plans to bid out the job differently and have fire staff act as project coordinators so the village doesn’t have to pay someone else to perform that work.

“Hopefully, we can tweak it a little bit and save a few pennies here and there,” MacIsaac said.