Moving day for Golden Valley Fire

June 20th, 2013

Today’s move was planned nearly 8 months ago when the Golden Valley Fire District Board of Directors approved a plan brought to them by Fire Chief Thomas O’Donohue to construct a new fire station, ultimately located at 3480 Bacobi Road. The new “Station-11” will replace the Mayer Road station that was constructed in 1979. “The new fire station location better serves the community” said O’Donohue, outlining how this moves covers the SoHi area which, until now, was outside the 5-mile distance to qualify for lower insurance rates. It is one of three full-time firefighter/paramedic staffed fire stations, the others are Station-12 at 749 Egar Rd and Station-13 at 2790 Oatman Road. The Golden Valley Fire District’s Public Safety Training Center located at 423 S. Colorado Road, is planned to fill a void as well as part of a strategic plan to bring lower insurance rates to a growing section of Golden Valley according to O’Donohue. The new station, which cost approximately $830,000, has an estimated value closer to 1.5 million dollars as estimated by Board member Steve Robinson. The difference between the value and the final cost was due to consistent attention to cutting costs, and use of inmate labor that saved approximately a half-million dollars in labor expenses alone. The new 12,000 square foot fire station boasts six bedrooms, large kitchen, exercise room, large dayroom that can double for training and meetings, larger captain’s office, firefighter report and study room, and space for up to eight emergency apparatus. The Administrative offices will remain at the old facility while the Board considers options to expand to meet growing needs. An open house for the public is planned for early July.

Brush Fire Slows Hwy-68 Traffic

Golden Valley Firefighters quickly extinguish a fast-moving blaze Tuesday, just before noon, on Hwy-68 between Tooman and Bryce Roads. Fire Chief Thomas O’Donohue stated an ADOT employee reported the fire, which began on the north side of the highway. Firefighters arrived within two minutes of dispatch, and the fire had grown over ten times its original size.  O’Donohue stated the Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire, which slowed traffic for about 30-minutes, while firefighters extinguished the fire and looked for hot-spots to prevent re-ignition. There was no damage to any property due to this fire.