Fire department hopes to use housing project for training fires
The Republic Volunteer Fire Department wants to help the Fayette County Housing Authority reduce its housing inventory by burning down Dunlap Creek Village, a 100-unit housing project in Redstone Township. The fire department has proposed using the public housing project, which is slated for demolition anyway, for fire school training exercises. The authority is considering that scenario while admitting that environmental concerns – the units contain asbestos and lead-based paint – may scuttle the idea.
“The fire department out there could earn money by putting on these fire schools,” said housing authority Executive Director Thomas L. Harkless. “They were seeing it as a win-win (situation). The thing we’re worried about is the insurance.”
Harkless said that the burn-down option has financial appeal: the fire department would need approximately a $50,000 housing authority contribution to coordinate post-fire cleanup, versus the estimated $3,500 per unit or $350,000 the authority estimates as the cost of traditional demolition.
But he said the authority must also weigh the insurance and liability consequences, starting with the fact that someone could be injured during the training exercise and extending into the realm of smoke and contaminated soil issues.
Hypothetically speaking, Harkless said that if the burn-down creates hazardous residue, the authority could wind up carting out a 5-foot depth of soil from the burn sites, which would add significantly to the demolition cost.
Harkless said Dunlap Creek Village is already about 65 percent vacant and the authority is in the process of boosting it to complete demolition status. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has already approved demolition of 74 of its housing units, under a makeover plan that would leave 26 units standing.
Harkless said the authority would like to demolish the entire site by the end of this calendar year, as part of an aggressive campaign to significantly whittle the authority’s housing stock.
The fire department could raise as much as $25,000 by hosting the fire school and doing controlled burns at the site, said Harkless. The fire department’s cleanup plan includes soliciting private contributions and enlisting the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, he added.