MINDEMOYA—Construction of the new Central Manitoulin fire hall is expected to completed by late this fall.
“We are hoping that the fire hall will be complete by late this fall. That is the game plan,” stated Richard Stephens, mayor of the municipality of Central Manitoulin, after a council meeting last week. The new building is to be constructed on Highway 542 on the property beside the Mindemoya Motel.
At its meeting council passed a recommendation from its property committee, “that the design plans be approved as presented by Dan Moody of Tulloch Engineering for the new Central Manitoulin fire hall, with the minor changes as discussed, and to direct staff to proceed to the tendering stage of the project.”
“Everything that needed to be done has been, including having the site cleared, engineering drawings completed and approved,” said Mayor Stephens.
With the motion passed by council “now we go to the tendering stage for the construction.”
The designs for the new fire hall provided for a 46 foot by 105 foot (total of 4,830 square feet) exterior dimensions for the building, which will be a pre-engineered steel building frame designed in accordance with the Ontario Building Code 2012 as a Post-Disaster building. It will include an energy efficient structural insulated wall and roof panels, have a three (fire) truck capacity, and is barrier free accessible throughout.
As well, the fire hall will have energy efficient LED lighting throughout (dark sky compliant exterior lighting), an emergency decontamination shower, automatic gas detection/ventilation system, and a vehicle exhaust system.
The design team is made up of Tulloch Engineering, MET Energy Systems and David Ellis Architect Inc.
Funding for the new fire hall is in place, said Mayor Stephens. “Like any other major project, we will review the tenders we receive and then determine if we have to scale down the project slightly, or get suggestions from contractors on what we can do.” He pointed out that Tehkummah Township and the Town of Gore Bay/Gordon Barrie Island have both had new fire halls constructed in the past few years. “It is very important to have the proper equipment and facilities in place for the community,” he added.
