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Delay In Construction At New Dougall EMS Base

AM800-NEWS-Dougall-EMS-base-Nov-2017-1
AM800-NEWS-Dougall-EMS-base-Nov-2017-1
Old gas lines and contaminated soil were found at the site

An unexpected discovery has thrown a wrench into construction of the new Essex-Windsor EMS Dougall base.

Chief Bruce Krauter says the property used to be home to a gas station and underground lines were never properly removed when the building was demolished.

As a result, constructions crews have had to remove more than 500 tons of contaminated soil setting the project back at least three months.

Krauter says regulations were not as stringent when the gas station was removed.

"As some people may be aware, it was an old gas station way back when 50 or 60 years ago. There's obviously some old lines and pipes that we found when we started to deconstruct the old base. So those had to be fixed and because we had to fix those it's not pushed the project back."

He says the base was scheduled to open at the end of September.

"The contractor has been working hard at getting stuff done. We had a meeting last week and two weeks ago. The inside of the building is almost 100% complete, just doing some finishing tiling, some cabinetry and stuff like that, but the construction has been delayed due to the environmental issues."

Work continues on the new Essex-Windsor EMS Dougall base after contaminated soil was discovered (Photo by AM800's Rob Hindi)

Krauter says it's not yet clear what additional costs will be added to the $2.5-million project.

"There's going to be some budget impact because we did find that we had to remove some soil that was contaminated. That costs to get rid of and then we have to replace it with clean. So there's going to be some overages in the budget, but we're hoping at budget we can explain that to council and what the impacts were."

The new base will now likely be fully operational in late December or early January.

The previous base was built in the 1980's and was not up to modern day standards.

The new facility will be much larger with three ambulance bays, a fuel depot and improved staff quarters and storage.