Valley Fire considers creating history wall

Staff discussed how to create a history wall in the Spokane Valley Fire Department’s new Administration Building at Monday’s fire commissioner meeting.

The idea of the wall has been around for a while, said Deputy Chief Larry Rider. “It’s kind of been languishing,” he said. Rider said he would like to include the names of all the department’s employees and commissioners since it was created. The names would be interspersed with historical photos and documents. “We’ll try to do a historical timeline,” he said. “We’ll try to make it look interesting.”

The department has old log books and its original charter. “I believe the first tax levy was 16 cents,” said Chief Mike Thompson.

“Things have changed since then,” Rider said.

Commissioners questioned how the project would be funded and what it would cost. Rider said he didn’t have a cost estimate for the picture frames and shadow boxes. “I’ve got a couple thousand dollars in my budget,” he said.

In other business, the commissioners voted unanimously to sell a surplus 1994 Pierce fire engine to Spokane Community College for $10,000. The engine will be used in the college’s fire science program, Rider said.

“They have its twin down there already,” he said. “When they heard about this one, they perked right up.”

The commissioners also voted unanimously to approve the department’s 2013 budget. The budget does not include a property tax increase. Thompson said he made changes to add $55,000 for staffing for the department’s upcoming training academy and an additional $50,000 for the construction of Station 6.

Rider reported that construction of Station 6 is nearly complete. The crew should be able to move in around Dec. 13 and a ribbon cutting ceremony will be about a week later, Rider said. “It’s not a hard date yet,” he said.