Toledo Fire & Rescue Dept. stations aging, in need of repairs
The chief says there are some problems that can’t be solved with a quick fix.
TOLEDO, Ohio — As is the case with any good home, the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department’s buildings are aging.
“They were looking at about $22 million.”
$22 million that’s needed to make repairs to all of the department’s aging buildings. The average age of these buildings is about 47-years-old, but there are a couple approaching a hundred years old.
Toledo Fire and Rescue Department Chief Allison Armstrong tells me this 10-year-estimate comes from a study conducted by a third party firm.
“That’s the timeline they use, so to speak, to say these things need to be done in the next 10 years. You should be doing all of these things, however, these things over here need to be done in the first 1–2 years; they are more critical, so they should be at the higher end of your list. But, however, these roofs over here we estimate, you know, in 10 years they will exceed their life. And so therefore, maybe at the 6 year mark, 7 year mark, you need to start looking at replacing them,” Armstrong explained.
She says that the department has recently received support from Toledo City Council — which she is grateful for. That support includes $500,000 in 2022 and $1.3 million after the midterm readjustment.
Armstrong says that’s enough for short-term repairs, but that’s also money her department can burn through after only a couple projects. One being a new fence, parking lot, and roof at TFRD’s maintenance building.
So with that $22 million lingering, she says planning and coordinating need to start happening.
“We do need to have conversations about long-term funding and where that funding’s gonna come from, what it looks like, how much, and, so, this basically starts that conversation.”
Armstrong views this study as a tool in the toolbox or piece of puzzle, and that’s as the department’s stations — which she describes as, at most, functional — slowly age.
