West Fargo’s new fire headquarters on track for spring completion

By Wendy Reuer | West Fargo Pioneer

WEST FARGO — A fairly dry summer has helped work on the new West Fargo Fire Department headquarters move along on schedule.

The new headquarters at 1201 10th Ave. E. is estimated to cost about $18.5 million, nearly double its original estimate of $10 million. It will be funded through capital improvement sales tax, cash reserves and a $10 million bond.

The headquarters will house new, additional full-time crews to reduce response times and lower fire loss across West Fargo. Currently, all full-time crews are based out of the West Fargo Fire Department’s south station, with only part-time crews servicing the rented north station.

“We’re on track,” Fire Chief Dan Fuller said earlier this year. “The construction crews are forming the basement walls this week, expect to see concrete trucks soon. Our precast panels and angle iron should be on the site Aug. 1, and a temporary parking lot will be built around the same time to stage materials and allow for more workers to be on the site and not impact the traffic/parking situation as West Fargo High School ramps up for the fall.”

The West Fargo Fire Department has rented the north station, where the administrative offices are housed, from the West Fargo Rural Fire

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Department since 2017. The offices will be moved from the station at 106 1st St., and the rural department will retain the former station after the city’s move.

“This new headquarters will allow our department to reduce response times to better serve the residents of West Fargo,” Fuller said.

Crews broke ground on the project in May, and it is expected to be finished by spring.

CITY-WIDE PROJECTS

West Fargo is working on rehabilitating the city’s sanitary sewer collection system and a new multi-use bike path in the older part of town.

Severe deterioration of manholes within the north side of the sewer system caused the city to undertake the $4.6 million project.

Crews are working on roughly 40 manholes this summer. Twenty will be lined with an epoxy coating, while the other 20 are being reinforced with inserts.

The city emphasized the manhole work is being paid for by the city’s capital improvement sales tax and sewer utility rates rather than special assessments, which is part West Fargo’s effort to reduce the use of special assessments through strategic planning, financing and policy development.

Also on the agenda for the city this year is extending a northsouth bike and pedestrian pathway from Seventh Avenue East to Main Avenue near the city’s post office.

Assistant City Engineer Jerrold Wallace said it’s one of the first such trails in the older part of town.

Last year, the first phase involved building the 10-foot pathway from 13th Avenue to Seventh Avenue partially through Service Club Park. The trail runs along the drainage ditch near Fourth Street East.

The pathway connects to others in the city and is being paid for thanks to a $290,000 grant from the North Dakota Department of Transportation, with the rest of the $632,000 project coming from the city’s capital improvement sales tax fund. There are no special assessments involved.

One more infrastructure project is slated for later this summer and involves citywide concrete patching of deteriorating panels, which extends the life of roadways.

The largest panel replacement will be on Ninth Street near West Fargo High School. It will take about eight weeks and will affect traffic.

Because of extreme weather, First Avenue East between Fifth Street East and Sixth Street East had to have concrete repairs performed due to road buckling.

Road buckling can occur when the air temperature shifts from moderate to extreme heat. The warmer the temperature, the more the pavement material expands, leading to buckles.