A state panel on Thursday gave the final approval to replace the Department of Natural Resources’ aging and crowded ranger station in Oconto Falls next year with a $1.93 million facility.
The current station, located on East Highland Drive, was built in 1978 for the offices of two rangers and an equipment operator. A pole shed was added for equipment storage.
The DNR has long since outgrown the station by adding more fire control equipment and personnel.
“We’ll bring in extra personnel (seasonal employees) at times for better fire response, but typically we’ll have six full-time people, which includes four foresters and two wardens,” said Mike Warnke, the DNR’s forestry, fire and law enforcement section chief.
The station sits on an acre that is not big enough to fit a larger office and park eight vehicles, Warnke said.
In a memo to the State Building Commission, the DNR called the 2,500-square-foot station “substandard…with inadequate space issues and deteriorating site conditions.”
Warnke said the station has repair issues, but having more room remained the biggest reason to move about one-half mile away to Hank Marks Drive in the industrial park.
Ryan Severson, the DNR’s area forestry leader, said he is looking forward the completion of the 9,470-square-foot station.
“It will be fantastic,” he said.
Having heated garage space for fire control equipment will not appreciably reduce fire response times, he said, but the equipment will be stored “fire-ready,” an improvement over the current conditions.
The station project was approved in the state’s 2011-13 capital budget at $1.47 million, but since then the law enforcement bureau wanted offices in the new station, increasing the total cost by $450,200.
The additional cost is mainly to add two equipment bays for the wardens and some storage space inside, Warnke said. All but $64,200 of the additional funding comes from federal sources, he said.
Providing space for the wardens yields efficiencies in operations and eliminates the need for a separate facility, according to information the DNR presented to the commission.
The state will see if any other agency needs the space on Highland Drive; if not, it would be declared surplus property and put it up for sale, Warnke said. The site has already generated some local interest from people interested in acquiring it, he said.
Construction bids will be solicited yet this year, and construction is expected to begin in March and be completed late next year.
The Oconto Falls fire response unit covers 15 townships in southern Oconto County. The area is highly prone to forest fires and is subject to restricted burning periods.
The unit also provides primary fire protection for rural residential areas.
“We don’t fight structure fires, we’re not equipped or trained for that, but if a property owner has carved out a place in the woods and the woods catches fire, we respond,” Severson said.
