Fire Bosses OK $1,000 Plot Plan

Will it be concrete block or steel?

Or will the building be made out of a prefabricated concrete and constructed by a local company out of Brooksville?

Those are the questions that will be answered following the approval of a $1,000 "plot plan" by the Spring Hill Fire Rescue District.

The station, located at Bob Hartung Court, is considered too cramped, too outdated and unable to meet the needs of the firefighters who work, eat and sleep there.

Fire commissioners voted 5-0 Wednesday to request the plan.

"We need to get this project going," said Chief Mike Rampino during the meeting. "This is where you start."

The new "Station 2" building would include administrative offices, as well as living quarters and bays for the firefighters.

The district currently operates four stations.

Rampino said he hopes a similar blueprint will be used for construction of a fifth fire station in the future.

Duratek, located in the Airport Industrial Park, will be among the bidders. Its "precast wall" construction is considered faster, more environmentally friendly and more efficient compared to standard concrete, according to its Web site.

In other district news:

• A draft agreement is nearly finished that would consolidate Spring Hill Fire Rescue's communication center with the county.

The agreement is expected to go before the fire commission next month.

"By the next meeting we should have it all hammered out," Rampino told the board.

• Fire commissioners agreed on a cost analysis to determine whether the district would save money by giving the mechanic a take-home car versus paying him the extra 50-cent "pager fee" that is added to his hourly wage.

Chairman Leo Jacobs pointed out that the mechanic for Pasco County Fire Rescue drives his department-issued vehicle to and from his Spring Hill home.

"If we have a breakdown at night, it puts the onus on the man to come here first rather than go straight there," Jacobs said.