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The 175th Civil
Engineering Fire and Emergency Services Flight Wing, stationed at the
Warfield Air National Guard Base in Middle River, officially received
their new facility at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 19.
The Wings old station, a converted maintenance building which had fallen
into severe disrepair, has been replaced by the new 21,000-square-foot,
state-of-the-art facility at a cost of $7.1 million. Fire Captain Bill
Nickerson, in charge of fire prevention and logistics, said the new
facility is just amazing; its a really, really good thing. Nickerson
remembers the cracks in the walls of the old station and lack of proper
exhaust ventilation. They even had to hold training sessions in the
stations bunk room. We went from 7,000 square feet in two buildings
to 21,000 square feet in one, he stated. We now meet air quality standards
and have full ventilation inside for engine exhaust. Congressman C.
A. Dutch Ruppersberger, who was also on hand for the opening, declared
the new facility smells like new car. It was a needed project to have
a facility such as this to protect the base, to be involved and also
to supplement whats going on in our own community, he said. According
to information released by MDANG, the bases fire department responds
to approximately 300 emergencies annually, including aircraft and medical
emergencies, fuel spills and mutual aid requests from Baltimore County.
These can include auto accidents, house fires and other miscellaneous
requests for assistance. Adjutant General for the base, Major General
James Adkins explained the new facility will provide critical fire fighting
support for Warfield ANG Base and Martin State Airport. Additionally,
it improves the emergency response for all of the airport and the overall
training capabilities of the MDANG fire department personnel. These
are some of the finest airmen in the Air National Guard and they deserve
the finest facilities, Adkins commented. He also thanked Congressman
Ruppersberger for earmarking the project and supporting the MDANG. Earmarks,
Ruppersberger noted, got a bad name from a few members of Congress.
But earmarks are about members of Congress who represent their district,
who know their district better than anybody, getting money for certain
projects in their district. Although the earmark process now involves
a lot of checks and balances between Congress and the administration,
Ruppersberger expressed, The good news is this project is here and its
very positive. The Congressman acknowledged that the National Guard
gets deployed around the world and suffers just as any other member
of the military. But the National Guard also takes care of home base,
and thats what this is about, he affirmed. This is what everyone who
works here really is owed by us.
175th Wing
Commander Col. Scott Kelly (left), Fire Chief Wayne Viands, Fire Capt.
Bill Nickerson, Maj. Gen. James Adkins and Valerie McDonough help Congressman
Dutch Ruppersberger cut the ribbon on Warfield ANG Bases new fire station.
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