PEORIA, Ill. – A facility local lawmakers say was desperately needed for the 182nd Airlift Wing has officially opened.
A ribbon was cut Tuesday on the 182nd new fire station facility.
“We knew the need the 182nd had here,” said Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Dunlap). “Today is a result of that. And, we were able to get it done.”
LaHood, says he worked in a bi-partisan matter with Congresswoman Cheri Bustos to get the nearly $8 million in funding needed for the building work.
The grand opening was an opportunity for the unit to tout all the things the men and women there have been doing lately.
For one, Chief Master Sergeant Clifford Otto says members of the unit spent a couple weeks at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, just as the first wave of evacuees from Afghanistan came in.
“During the team’s fourteen-day rotation, our firefighters responded to 76 medical emergencies, and provided medical care to over 90 evacuees,” said Otto. “Two of our airmen even assisted with the post-delivery care of a woman who had just given birth just prior to landing at Ramstein.”
The 182nd’s fire station serves the Peoria International Airport and its tenants, and also surrounding areas, along with the overall unit’s military service.
The fire station replaces a facility last rehabbed in the 1990’s.
