Delmar Fire & Rescue benefits from needed grant

DELMAR - Flooding issues at the Delmar fire station through the years have finally been corrected, thanks to funding received from the Northwest Resource Conservation and Development Council.
The Delmar Fire Department received a $6,000 RC&D grant, which provided for a new roof and insulation to correct long-standing flooding  and heating issues, according to Lt. Zena Ingram of the fire department.
The fire station project was a total of $9,850 with the grant covering $6,000, and the Delmar FD applying $3,850 from their own savings account, in order to complete the project, Ingram said.
The Delmar Fire Department applied last year for the funding and recently were notified they had been approved for the grant.
“Our roof was leaking  in several spots,” stated Delmar Fire Chief James Liverett.  “And it was about to rot the station down.
“We’d come in after a rain and open the doors, and there would be water just standing in the floor, it was leaking so bad,” Liverett pointed out.
“If we didn’t do something, we were going to lose the building,” Liverett added.
Flooding issues at the station had been a problem several years, but the fire department never had enough funding to tackle the issue, according to Liverett.
“We tried everything we could to patch the old roof, and it seemed like, we patch it in one spot, and another would start leaking,” he stated.
When the department was notified of the RC&D funding, they decided a new roof on the station was the only option, Liverett indicated.
The department obtained estimates from different roofing companies and decided to use Postell Roofing for the project, firefighters stated.
The new roof fixed all of the leaks, which had included one in the bathroom, two or three in the kitchen and at least one leak in the rear of the bay where the fire trucks are kept, fire officials stated.
Also provided in the grant funding was new insulation for the station, according to Liverett.
“Our heat in the winter time basically just went through the ceiling,” he said. “It was hard to keep it warm in here.”
The new roof was crucial to the station, not only on behalf of protecting the Delmar trucks and equipment, but  to protect the structure which is also used as a polling site during elections, according to Delmar fire officials.
The RC&D grant was also crucial funding, for a department that has to rely on fundraisers in order to keep their doors open, Liverett stated.
“We are very appreciative of RC&D. We just can’t thank them enough,” Ingram said.