Ginno Construction Co., of Coeur d'Alene, has started building a fire station near the Spokane International Airport as part of the city of Spokane's preparation to annex nearly 10 square miles of land on the West Plains.

Ginno won a $932,600 contract for the project that started in August on airport property along Spotted Road, in an area northeast of Airport Drive. The station will be located within an area that the Spokane Airport Board has designated for a technology park.

The construction work involves building a 3,300-square-foot bay with mezzanine space, as well as minor remodeling of an 1,800-square-foot modular home for the firefighters' living quarters, which will be attached to the bay by a walkway.

Spokane Fire Chief Bobby Williams says the bay is designed to store two emergency vehicles, including a fire engine and most likely a brush truck. A mezzanine level in the bay will allow for storage, a utility room, and a physical fitness workout space.

It will be called the city's Fire Station 6 and will be designed for 24-hour staffing, with living quarters for three people per shift. Williams adds that the department also recently hired 13 new staff for training because existing emergency responders will either be reassigned to or fill different slots with the new station, which is expected to be completed by December.

The new station also will offer paramedic service, and staff will need to be in place there by late December to prepare for when the annexation takes effect Jan. 1, Williams says.

The Spokane County Fire District 10 has served the West Plains area being annexed, he says. This new facility will bring the total number of city fire stations to 15.

"This is quite a bit smaller than our typical fire station, which is between 9,000 and 12,000 square feet," Williams says. "This is about half of what a fire station is, because it's semi-temporary. This gives us the ability to evaluate the service area."

The West Plains fire station is being built on a roughly one-acre leased site. Once the department has a few years to study the number and type of calls in the area, it can determine the future service needs for the West Plains, Williams says.

"During that time, we will evaluate that station location to determine if that is the right location," he adds. "We designed the apparatus bay portion to where we can add onto it with a permanent structure."

Williams says the city department has entered a five-year lease agreement for about $9,200 per year, with the option for an additional two years, he says. However, Williams adds that the airport board approved an "in-kind" arrangement that will decrease that lease amount based on the number of hours the city offers its fire training facilities and classes to airport fire department personnel.

Williams didn't know an exact amount for the deduction because he says the amount will be depend on how much training is completed by the airport fire personnel during a year's time. As an example, the use of the city training center for four hours has a value of $2,000, he says, and a class has a value of about $1,500.

Ginno was expected this past week to complete moving a manufactured home to the site that is owned by the fire department and that it previously had stored at its training facility near Spokane Community College. In 2010, the department bought the 1996 Fleetwood modular home from the Spokane Valley Fire Department for $10,000 and moved it into storage. The Valley department had used it previously for firefighters' quarters until it built a permanent fire station, Williams says.

Ginno's work also has included some site preparation to build a foundation for the modular home. The minor remodeling work to the modular includes new carpeting, painting, and cabinet replacements, Williams says.