Peebles VFC receives grant, requests McCandless help for fuel costs

A grant of $500,000 will go toward expanding the station at the Peebles District Volunteer Fire Company in McCandless, thanks to an award from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.

The grant amount represents about a quarter of the Peebles request to the RACP, for $1,921,000. The money will help with the expansion and reconfiguration of the station, located on Duncan Avenue, to make it more usable from an administration, staffing, operational and community perspective, according to the 2023 awards listing on the RACP website.

The project will add approximately 30 feet in the northern portion of the station. A separate gear room will be built to house firefighter gear and provide an area for washing the gear.

The current rescue bay will have the rear of that area reconfigured, where it will become a separate decontamination and engineers’ room.

RACP projects are state-funded projects that cannot obtain primary funding under other state programs.

In addition to this grant, the proposed McCandless 2025 budget presented on Oct. 28 to town council, would provide $188,120 for each of the three volunteer fire companies within the municipality, reflecting a 5% increase from the 2024 budget, according to assistant town manager Trisha Greathouse.

The Peebles, Highland and Ingomar companies also received a 5% increase in the current 2024 budget.

The proposed municipal funding for each department would be distributed quarterly at $47,030, less their Apparatus Fund Loan repayment and the quarterly fuel costs incurred, Greathouse said.

Lou Flores, president of Peebles VFC, requested that the town proportionately aid in fuel costs.

“We are going to ask that the city can proportionally cover our fuel costs in totality. We need your help,” he said.

He noted that while the town and the fire company have had discussions on costs related to insurance, long-term capital vehicle expenditure purchases and other expenses, the fire department has been experiencing a high volume of calls.

In 2023, on Dec. 25, he said Peebles had 827 calls. And two weeks prior to Oct. 28, they answered a similar number of calls for the current year.

Historically, the volunteer fire companies do not receive funding specifically for fuel costs, Greathouse said.

The proposed for 2025 VFC fuel reimbursements is estimated at $23,850.

“The town does not upcharge fuel purchases but simply charges the VFCs for their usage at the town’s average inventory cost,” said Greathouse.

The fuel usage in 2023 for each of the departments was $4,389 for Highland, $2,807 for Ingomar and $13,275 for Peebles, she said.

Flores offered appreciation for the proposed 5% increase for 2025. He said Peebles’ next truck purchase is planned for 2033, and the company is trying to save toward the expense.