Neighbors say the new fire station in Silverthorne will now be built after requests
CBS News Colorado has reported that Summit Fire and EMS knows it needs a fire station in Silverthorne which it said was "booming" in population, but that there wasn't the money to do a fully staffed station yet. The idea was to basically build out a garage to store a fire truck and an ambulance to have closer on hand than Dillion's station, 5 miles and across a busy intersection.
Now that plan has changed, according to the folks in the neighborhood that would be closest to the new fire station.
Gaylene Bruskotter and Jay Engeln agreed to talk with CBS News Colorado about their efforts to get the fire station put in place as soon as possible. According to those neighbors, the plan is still set for construction in 2023, but it is now a full-fledged fire station, even though that will cost more than Summit Fire and EMS have budgeted for the building.
"I would still like to see some skin in the game from Silverthorne," Bruskotter said, referencing that Summit Fire and EMS is shouldering the costs alone right now.
The initial plan was estimated around $4 million, and the full plan was estimated well above $10 million.
Money is time for these folks, who said the Dillion response station was simply not close enough for them, considering the older population in the neighborhood and the importance of seconds in a medical response to things like a stroke or heart attack.
"We need to get fire and EMS services this side of town, now," Bruskotter said.
This is also hurting people financially, the further away from Dillion's station they are. Engeln said he is updating his fire insurance because the ISO, or insurance fire rating has gone up (a bad thing) from 2 to 10W which he said is the worst. He said neighbors even further north were dropped completely off their insurance plans and had to find new ones because of how far away they were.
Engeln expects his costs will grow by thousands of dollars.
Right now the focus has been on availability for emergency responses, and both neighbors said they're encouraged by the recent steps made by the fire board, but will continue to show up to public meetings to make sure they are held accountable for getting the building put up ASAP.
"We have had promises in the past 16 years... we just want to make sure this one comes to fruition," Engeln said.
