[StBernard] Grand Openings of Yscloskey Fire Station No. 11 and Delacroix Fire Station No. 12 Held Tuesday, April 13

Westley Annis Westley at da-parish.com
Tue Apr 13 19:01:00 EDT 2010


Grand Openings of Yscloskey Fire Station No. 11 and Delacroix Fire Station
No. 12 Held Tuesday, April 13

With these celebrations, St. Bernard Parish now has reopened seven new and
rebuilt fire stations since Hurricane Katrina; remaining three are in
construction



St. Bernard Parish President Craig P. Taffaro Jr., along with FEMA and a
host of local officials, celebrated the completion of two projects totaling
$2.7 million in recovery work in St. Bernard Parish with Grand Opening
ceremonies at the sites of the Yscloskey Fire Station No. 11 and the
Delacroix Island Fire Station No. 12 on Tuesday, April 13.



"This is another great day for eastern St. Bernard," President Taffaro said.


"These grand openings - key signs of our continued growth and recovery - are
more than that to those who live in these most eastern communities. They
assure them that their firefighters are in safe quarters that can be
re-established quickly in times of emergency."



Mark Landry, the Interim Director for the Louisiana Transitional Recovery
Office for FEMA, said that these stations represent only a part of the
federal government's commitment of more than $14 million to rebuild fire
stations, replace contents and provide temporary facilities in the parish.



"As a former first responder, this opening means a lot to me," Landry said.
"St. Bernard continues to lead the area in completed recovery projects and
to achieve what you have achieved is not easy. I know you are going to have
people saying to you: 'How was it that you were able to work so effectively
as a team - Federal, State, local and engineers/designers/project managers -
to accomplish such an important goal and to get these Fire Stations up and
running in the Parish? It's a matter of hard work, and you just kept going."



The construction on Fire Station No. 12 at 4623 Delacroix Highway in
Delacroix Island was paid for with FEMA funds and insurance proceeds at a
cost of about $1.4 million. Additionally, the construction on Fire Station
No. 11 at 2424 Florissant Highway in Yscloskey was paid for with FEMA funds
and insurance proceeds at a cost about $1.3 million.



Both stations now have elevated living quarters and have been built to
mitigate hurricane conditions, Taffaro said. "These building have been built
so the first floors could be easily cleaned after a storm so we can get
right back to work."



Councilman Fred Everhardt said it is important to mark the opening of these
stations because it means firefighters who had been housed at Fire Station
10 in Verrett will now have quicker response times in these communities.



"These two fire stations are important to the residents in this area,"
Everhardt said. "When you open these fire stations, people can see we are
coming back."



Fire Chief Thomas Stone said the new stations are a much needed addition in
these bayou communities.



"We're excited to expand our fire protection in eastern St. Bernard," Stone
said. "As of today, there are seven down and three more to go."



Tuesday's grand openings mean there are now seven new and renovated fire
stations operating in St. Bernard Parish with three more still under
construction to bring the parish back to its pre-Katrina number of 10 fire
stations offering full coverage throughout the parish.



In addition to Tuesday's grand openings at Yscloskey Fire Station No. 11 and
Delacroix Fire Station No. 12, five other St. Bernard Fire Stations are
completed: Fire Station No. 1 on Aycock Street station in Arabi, Fire
Station No. 2 on Judge Perez Drive at Norton Avenue in Arabi, Fire Station
No. 3, known as Central Station on Judge Perez Drive at Packenham Drive in
Chalmette, Fire Station No. 7 on Judge Perez Drive in Violet, and Fire
Station 10 on Bayou Road in Verrett. The others are operating out of
temporary quarters. Fire Station No. 5 on Judge Perez Drive at the corner of
Lena Drive in Chalmette, Fire Station No. 6 on Judge Perez Drive at Paul
Drive in Meraux and Fire Station No. 8 at Torres Drive in Poydras are under
construction.



Aegis Construction is the contractor for Fire Station No. 12 in Delacroix
Island, and Devier Construction LLC is the contractor for Fire Station No.
11 in Yscloskey.



For both fire stations, Stuart Consultants is in charge of the project's
engineering, and Chase Design Group is the firm responsible for the design.
Jon Risinger is the project manager for both projects for CDM and Dennis
Tauzin has oversight over all FEMA-funded recovery projects for St. Bernard,
and Gil Carlin of the St. Bernard Parish Department of Public Works is the
project manager and resident inspector for both fire stations.



For more information about Recovery and Growth in St. Bernard Parish, visit
our website at www.sbpg.net
<https://mail.sbpg.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.sbpg.net/> .



###





More information about the StBernard mailing list