Caulfield Fire Department gets $500,000 grant for firehouse

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The Caulfield Volunteer Fire Department will use a six-figure Community Development Block Grant to build a new firehouse.

The grant is through the Missouri Department of Economic Development and will provide $500,000 towards a new firehouse, with the fire department providing in-kind labor and tearing down the existing firehouse when the time comes. That volunteer labor has an estimated value of $13,000.

The new firehouse will have five truck bays, and event room and a kitchen. The department’s current firehouse was built in 1975 and has a serious water leak.

The old firehouse also lacks the space required for modern firetrucks. It has three bays and is 30 feet deep. Most trucks are longer than that, and the department has been forced to leave trucks at firefighters’ houses instead of keeping them at the firehouse. The new bays will be 60 feet deep.

The fire department had been chasing the grant for several years. The department first applied unsuccessfully in 2019 and then re-applied in 2020. It was unofficially notified in late May that its latest grant application had been approved.

Caulfield Fire Chief Shannon Sisney estimates that he put in about 300 hours of unpaid volunteer work in the grant application process, and that his fellow firefighters likely contributed another 250-300 hours of time.

A timeline for the building’s construction was unclear at this point. Sisney said he hopes to hire local contractors where possible to help the community as part of the project.

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