By Ginger G. Golden
Derby Informer – November 1, 2013
It has become a tradition with each new county fire station to have a hose breaking ceremony, rather than a standard ribbon cutting ceremony. Shown from left are: Sedgwick County Deputy Fire Chief Craig Leu, Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Skelton, Wichita City Council Member James Clendenin, Derby Fire Chief Brad Smith, Sedgwick County Fire Marshall Tavis Leake, Sedgwick County Commissioner Richard Ranzau, Derby City Manager Kathy Sexton and Westar Business Manager Jean Shuler. In the background: Sedgwick County Fire Chief Gary Curmode.
Sedgwick County Fire Station 36 has opened a new facility north of Derby at 5055 S. Oliver, closing its previous facility at 63rd St. South and Rock Road.
The new station is larger, with 9,720 square feet and four bays, but no additional staff will be hired, said Fire Chief Gary Curmode. The station will continue to have a total of 15 employees who rotate through three shifts of 24 hours on and 48 hours off. The station does not utilize volunteer firefighters.
Station 36 will also have automatic aid with Rose Hill, Mulvane, McConnell Air Force Base, Wichita and Andover, he said.
In 2004, the Sedgwick County Commissioners decided to replace six of the nine county fire stations, Curmode said. Station 36 is the fifth station to be completed. The last one will open in Haysville this spring, he said.
“The commissioners’ vision was a safer and fiscally responsible department and we’ve done that with their help,” said Curmode. “With the completion of this station, we now have replaced a 47-year-old fire station.”
That station, at the southeast corner of 63rd Street South and Rock Road, was damaged this past year from the effects of an earthquake in Oklahoma, he said. The damage was significant enough to warrant paying for repairs to keep the station operational until the new station was completed.
That station now belongs to Cornejo and Sons, Inc. Company representatives did not respond to phone requests for information on the intended use of the property.
“We made a trade with them and our deal was we needed a new location, so this worked out great for us,” said Ron Holt, assistant county manager. “It was a wonderful trade and we got money out of the deal as well. I suspect they have some development plans, but they didn’t divulge those to us.”
“We’re always looking for better ways to efficiently serve the citizens of our county and this station is part of that,” said Commissioner Jim Skelton.
Skelton said 78 percent of the fire district is now within five minutes of a station, an increase from 47 percent previously in that range.
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