After receiving only one bid to install an extractor tank at the Waitsfield-Fayston Volunteer Fire Station, the Waitsfield Select Board has reopened the bidding process. The town received one bid to install the 1,000-gallon holding tank for water used to wash firefighters’ turnout gear. The bid was from Pioneer Mechanical for $79,000 and the town had estimated $20,000 to install the tank.
By statute, firefighters’ turnout gear must be washed in specialty washers after interior fires to remove toxins they encounter while fighting fires. Those toxins remain in the wash water and must be stored in a tank until pumped out and taken to an appropriate disposal facility. Last year the fire department received a $7,500 grant for the laundry machinery. The department had previously been using other local fire department equipment to wash their gear.