7/31/01 -- The Chippewa Valley Regional Airport will be discontinuing its on-location fire service in one month and replacing the firefighters with airport maintenance workers.
The airport's manager, Charity Speich, says that this move is not uncommon and that in Wisconsin, Rhinelander's airport has also decided to take this route. She says, "Safety is a huge concern, but like I said, we're doing the same training as what we require, the FAA would require of our current fire protection."
Some people are concerned with the decision to drop certified firefighters for maintenance workers including Chippewa Fire Protection District Chief John Neihart, who says, "Anytime there is an incident at the airport and it is a severe situation, having the fastest response of trained personnel mitigates the situation as soon as possible."
Eliminating the fire service is part of cost-cutting measures being made by the airport in order to line up funding for the new control tower. The airport says this is a "proactive" approach to combating fires, while the fire service is "reactive," dealing with fires after they occur. Neihart says a tower will not help prevent fires since most fires at the airport are the result of equipment failures and break out after the aircraft has already landed.
