{"id":799057,"date":"2019-08-31T10:50:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-31T16:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=370839"},"modified":"2019-08-31T10:50:32","modified_gmt":"2019-08-31T16:50:32","slug":"summit-fire-considers-new-silverthorne-station-as-population-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-fire-considers-new-silverthorne-station-as-population-grows\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit Fire considers new Silverthorne station as population grows"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Summit Fire and EMS ambulance inside Station 10 on June 12 in Silverthorne.<\/strong>
Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

SILVERTHORNE \u2014 Summit Fire and EMS is planning for the future.<\/p>\n

The fire district recently completed a move to its new administration building<\/a> at the County Commons in Frisco, and with the merger between Summit Fire and the Summit County Ambulance Service<\/a> set to be completed in January, the district is considering its next big move: a new fire station in Silverthorne.<\/p>\n

Following Summit Fire\u2019s departure from its Silverthorne administration building in July, officials with the district said there were concerns raised among residents in the area that fire and ambulance response times might be impacted. The station hadn\u2019t been used for emergency response since the early 2000s, so those concerns were largely unfounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat station was built for volunteer firefighters with the old Silverthorne Fire District in the 1970s,\u201d Summit Fire Chief Jeff Berino said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t used it for responses for 17 years because \u2014 after a series of mergers with other small fire departments in Dillon, Dillon Valley and Keystone \u2014 it just didn\u2019t make financial or tactical sense to staff it with a 24\/7 firefighter crew with the Dillon station 1 1\/2 miles away. For years now, we\u2019ve been dispatching the firefighters from our Station 8 in Dillon to calls in Silverthorne and farther north.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, as the population continues to grow in the north part of the county, officials believe a new station in the area will become a necessity in the future. According to Steve Lipsher, spokesman with Summit Fire and EMS, a new Silverthorne station was identified as part of the districts long-range strategic plan.<\/p>\n

The district already owns a piece of land at the north end of Silverthorne, and discussions are underway with Silverthorne about the potential of a land swap that would allow Summit Fire to build a new station at Smith Ranch, near the Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we are adequately meeting the industry response-time standards by handling calls from Dillon, but we recognize there will be a need for a new station down the line,\u201d Berino said.<\/p>\n

Of course, the biggest obstacle in the district\u2019s way is funding. Construction alone for the new station could cost in excess of $6 million in addition to $1 million to supply the station with new engines and equipment, and another $1 million annually for staffing.<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s fire districts are funded through residential property taxes, and Lipsher said further development and rising property values expected in the future will help to fund the new station. But it\u2019s also possible Summit Fire has to again turn to voters for additional funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may well be that down the line we have to ask voters for additional revenues,\u201d Lipsher said. \u201cFor us, that typically means asking the voters for an increase in the mill levy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lipsher emphasized that the project is very much in its infancy \u2014 with no set timeline or target date for construction \u2014 and any potential ballot measures to increase mill levies aren\u2019t being looked at anytime soon. Of note, voters approved a ballot measure in November 2018<\/a> to help address dwindling budgets for the county\u2019s fire districts as a result of the Gallagher Amendment.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Summit Fire is hoping to put the minds of worried Silverthorne residents at ease and assure individuals in the area of their capabilities to respond to emergencies quickly.<\/p>\n

Berino noted that even on days with heavy traffic, or when snow on the interstate delays getting to scenes of emergencies, the district works with Silverthorne and Dillon police to create pathways for emergency vehicles. Additionally, Summit Fire often stages emergency crews on the north side of Interstate 70 during difficult driving conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand the concerns, but being a citizen who lives up here, I can sleep well at night knowing that they can get here in a timely fashion,\u201d said Lori Miller, an elected board member for the district and Mesa Cortina resident. \u201cWe\u2019ve met the challenges and the call load, but we know there will be a need for a new station in the future, and we\u2019re planning for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summit Fire and EMS ambulance inside Station 10 on June 12 in Silverthorne.Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com SILVERTHORNE \u2014 Summit Fire and EMS is planning for the future. The fire district recently completed a move to its new administration building at the County Commons in Frisco, and with the merger between Summit Fire and the Summit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-799057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 20:39:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}