Extra space for water tenders: Pullman rural fire department gets new four-truck garage at Whelan

The Pullman Rural fire department now has a new storage building for fire trucks at its station off Highway 27. Shawnee Rock company president Mark Cochran built the four-truck building for the department.

“It easily houses four big trucks. They can just pull in and pull out real easy,” said Cochran.

Rural fire chief Lester Irwin stands inside the new four-truck garage.

The department signed a 25-year-lease with Shawnee Rock. Cochran said the rent over time will compensate him for the cost of constructing the building. The new structure was built alongside an older concrete building which the department has leased from Shawnee for the past four years.

Construction for the new 40 X 60 foot structure began last October and is now finished. The interior is one large room with storage bays for four vehicles.

District Chief Lester Erwin said he approached Cochran about a new fire station building two years ago.

Cochran initially didn’t believe he had the funds to construct a building and so the department spent some time looking into public loans for such a structure. Cochran later told Irwin he could afford to proceed as originally planned.

“They are donating their time. How can you not want to help them?” Cochran said. The two buildings are located near the facilities of Shawnee Rock. The site is located on Whelan Road, off Highway 27, about a mile north of Pullman.

An ambulance, a 4,000-gallon water tender, an attack brush truck and a pumper truck are housed in the new building.

The older building currently houses two water tenders and an office for the department.

“It’s set up to be there as long as we want. It just helps him out here with having the fire department right nearby and it helps us out as well,” Erwin said.

Erwin two years ago began to look for more storage for his department because the old concrete building at Shawnee Rock didn’t have enough space for the department’s water tenders.

In the winter, they had to store the water tenders outside with the tanks empty to avoid freezing. When a fire occurred, the department had to spend time filling the tanks if the trucks were needed for a response.

Pullman rural fire department’s coverage area is bordered on the east by the state line, the south by Johnson Cutoff Road, the north by Kamiak Butte and the west by Landfill Road along 195 near Colfax.

They have two other stations; one in Pullman and one in Johnson.