$5 million will go toward building to house safety equipment
PELLSTON, MI -- Airports in Northern Michigan are essential to personal travel and business.
One airport has been granted a big chunk of change to make some needed improvements.
You're looking at THE fire truck of all fire trucks. The Oshkosh T-1500 is loaded with water and foam for catastrophic fires involving airplanes. It's up there as one of the most important airport safety measures.
The mammoth truck has a resting place that is just big enough.
"the apparatus in the old fire barn here are in very tight quarters," said firefighter Randy Bricker, Jr.
The same goes for the snow removal equipment that is tucked away in these old buildings. For five years, Pellston Regional Airport has been working to get the airport up to standard.
"The buildings that are here now don't meet that, we have all our stuff crammed in probably four or five small buildings," said Emmet County Commission Chairperson Jim Tamlyn.
By the work of legislatures, the money they've been searching for to build the new, needed facility has been granted.
The $5 million grant will go toward constructing a new building for fire equipment as well as other safety equipment, like snow-removal vehicles.
"These buildings were never designed to do what they're doing, they're all probably 50-to-60 years old, we're going to consolidate them all into one," said Tamlyn.
The new 35,000 square foot facility will be big enough to hold the big equipment, like the fire truck, with plenty of extra space, and will also be the home to the Fixed Base Operator, the men and women who land the planes, and the fuel equipment. The total cost of the project will be $8 million. The $5 million grant will be used, other F-A-A, state and local funds will pay for the rest. The cost to Emmet County is $189,000.
“And have everything in one building is going to be a great addition for the facility," said Bricker.
And here's another tidbit of information: Up to 100 local contractors will be hired to work on the facility, which is expected to begin this fall.
