FIRE CHIEF

A New Fire Station Is On The Way

After nearly a decade of waiting, the Aurora Fire District can finally build a new fire station, and the best part about it is that we did not need to ask our voters for a bond measure to pay for it. Fire Chief Joshua L. Williams spent countless days and hours contacting local elected officials from the county, state, and federal offices. After months of letters and conversations with our state elected officials, we finally received a response.


Senator Fred Girod’s office contacted us about our project regarding the need for a new fire station, and we provided the documentation as to why our project should be funded. Once the District sent this information, we received another communication from Senator Bill Kennemer. Senator Kennemer agreed with this request and said he would support our project. Fast forward a few weeks, Chief Williams and Board President Bobby Meyer were called to testify on HB5020. This bill included capital requests, such as ours. Our original request was for $7.8 million dollars. When the short legislative session was all said and done, the Aurora Fire District was awarded $3.8 million dollars.


Just like you, we are dealing with higher prices and inflation. We continue to be grateful for the appropriation from the state; however, with the amount falling short of the necessary funds to reach our goal, we were forced to look outside the box for our fire station needs. This situation led us to an opportunity for something new in the form of a ‘modular fire station.’ The best way we can describe that would be ‘shipping containers mega-sized.’ This station will be the first of its kind in Oregon and the entire West Coast. The location for placement of this fire station will be on our property on Ehlen Road just East of the interstate as an additional fire station more central within the Aurora Fire District. The City of Aurora and the City of Donald Fire Stations will still continue to be functional in the District.


The fire station has been ordered, and we are in the process of completing the final design touches. The build time for this project is 10-12 months, which means that we expect our new fire station to be up and running sometime after September 2023. The station will arrive on several semi trucks, unloaded by a crane, and placed into position. Once that portion is complete, they will hydraulically expand the modules up and out. This system is unique, with a lifespan on the fire station of 50 years.        


I have included some facts about our current fire stations that you will hopefully find helpful. Please keep in mind that we have two career firefighters on shift 24 hours a day, seven days per week:



We hope this illustrates the hard work your Fire District staff does on a daily basis. Not only are we responding to calls for service, but we are fiscally responsible. We look for every opportunity for grants, such as state and federal programs that may benefit the District. Below are a few more examples of our hard work paying off: 



We would like to publicly thank Senator Fred Girod and Senator Bill Kennemer for their support. If it were not for these senators, this fire station would not be feasible at this time. We also look forward to our groundbreaking ceremony and will announce more details as the date nears. 


Thank you for your continued support of the Fire District!


Joshua L. WIlliams

Fire Chief