Letter: Springfield's new fire station warrants multiple thank-you's

Recently, Springfield reached a new milestone with the ribbon cutting and opening of the new Fire Station No. 8, located on Rickard Road, west of Veterans Parkway. This is a post-pandemic, “state of the art" fire station and an historic modernization that will have a useful life serving public safety for the next 50-75 years.

It was great to see numerous city and state office representatives come out in unison to celebrate this important historic event. Unfortunately, two people, who were critical to building not only this new firehouse but two other new stations now under construction, were not recognized—U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth.

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Both should be commended and thanked for these critical public safety facilities that will serve the citizens of Springfield for decades. Approximately 50% of the funding for these firehouse modernizations came from the American Rescue Plan Act funds (ARPA), which passed the U.S. Senate by only one vote.

Regardless of your party affiliation - if you support the fire department, Senator Durbin and Senator Duckworth should be given our thanks and gratitude. They were the critical votes to pass ARPA, which not only brought approximately $34 million to Springfield, but also tens of millions to School District 186 and Sangamon County, and hundreds of million dollars via ARPA to the State of Illinois.

We look forward to the future openings of the new Station No. 6 on 11th and Ash Streets and the new Station No. 13 off of Veterans and Woodside Road.

We should also thank the community and taxpayers of Springfield for supporting our Class 1 Fire Department and making this critical step to improve public safety for our community possible.

Jim Langfelder, Springfield

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Letter: Springfield's new fire station warrants multiple thank-you's