Construction resumes at Saratoga fire station

"After a two-month, bankruptcy-induced hiatus, trucks and bulldozers have started moving again at the site of South Whidbey's newest fire station.In August, Glory Construction, the general contractor building a $349,099 fire station on Saratoga Road for Fire District 3, went into bankruptcy and ceased grading and foundation work at the station site. Since then, a construction surety company has been in charge of the project and has been arranging for subcontractors working on the station to come back to work. Fire Chief Don Smith said this week that a company named Steelcorp is the new general contractor after being assigned to the job by the surety company.While it is all well and good that work has started again, the fire station is far behind schedule. Expected to have been finished by now, the construction is still in its earliest stages. Because the delay was so long, the island's rainy season is making it difficult to pour the concrete slab that will be the fire station's base. Smith said subcontractors working under Steelcorp will have to erect much of the steel fire hall and its roof before pouring the slab.When work started again two weeks ago, the surety company told Smith that the district could expect to have a completed fire station by mid-January. Smith said he doubts the work will be finished by then, but neither he nor the fire district's board of commissioners are interested in pushing the work schedule. His estimate is that work will be finished by mid-March.We want quality work, Smith said.The construction work will be handled by essentially the same team that was in place when Glory started the job. Smith said the site manager and contractors who started the job are still on the job. So far, Smith said, he has not heard that any local contractors lost money as a result of Glory's bankruptcy. "

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