The Coeur d’Alene Fire Department is building a boathouse for its fire boat at the foot of Tubbs Hill.
Fire Chief Kenny Gabriel says the project will cost about $450,000.
“A lot of it is due to the engineering that has to go into a very specialized anchoring system for the docks, and that comes with quite a price tag,” Gabriel says. “It has to meet the same standards as any building that houses emergency vehicles.”
Miller Stauffer Architects PA, of Coeur d’Alene, is designing the structure.
Verdis, of Coeur d’Alene, is the contractor on the project. North Idaho Maritime, also of Coeur d’Alene, is the subcontractor for the dock and float systems.
Gabriel says the department’s fire boat had been based at the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office Marine Division boathouse at Blackwell Island, across the Spokane River from North Idaho College, since the department purchased the boat in its 2015 public safety bond.