City officials react to Wichita Fire Station 15 closure

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Wichita’s Fire Station 15 is temporarily closed following a weekend evacuation due to mold concerns. Firefighters at the station are being reassigned to other stations.

The mold, according to Wichita Vice-Mayor Dalton Glasscock, isn’t a new issue.

“I had heard from reports from particular firefighters that Station 15 has experienced mold problems since 2018,” said Glasscock.

Much of the blame, he says, falls on deferred maintenance with issues like mold at the fire stations being pushed down the line.

“This council is left to address a lot of those concerns. That’s our responsibility now, is to address the deferred maintenance concerns that we see, because I hear from firefighters on nearly every single station with a lot of concerns about the conditions that they’re living in,” said Glasscock.

Glasscock expects the issue of mold at the station to be one of the top issues at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Related Story: Wichita fire station evacuated, temporarily closed due to mold concerns

He says it will be a process before they start to reopen Station 15.

“When did we know about this, when have we known about this, when do we begin plans for remediation, how many of the stations are facing serious concerns,” said Glasscock.

Some have raised concerns about the timing of the station closing, saying it’s a way to get the 1% sales tax proposal passed.

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Glasscock says regardless of how the city votes, it’s an issue they have to deal with.

“When we’re doing remediation work and our firefighters experience burning nose, throats, and eyes and we have to relocate them, it can’t wait for the end of a funding conversation. So regardless of what happens on March 3, these conditions have to be addressed,” said Glasscock.

The firefighters from Station 15 are split between Stations 9 and 20 for the time being.