New hangar, fire main under construction at Port of Moses Lake
The walls go up on the new Million Air hangar at Grant County International Airport. The Port of Moses Lake is paying to enlarge the water line used for fighting fires as part of the project.
CHERYL SCHWEIZER/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
MOSES LAKE — Port of Moses Lake officials are taking advantage of a construction project at Grant County International Airport to improve firefighting service to the west section of the port’s business property. Port commissioners approved paying about $312,600 to Freeman Holdings, the owners of Million Air, for the port’s portion of a bigger water main for fighting fires.
“For our purposes, we wanted the fire line to be larger than what we intended to put in for their needs. We have a reservoir (on the east side of the field) with a pumping station, and it services both sides of the airfield,” said Carol Crapson, the port’s director of real estate. “It goes over to Genie, to Chemi-Con, and it also comes (toward the west side of the field) and services the existing hangers. Now Million Air is making a connection to that line, but they really only needed 12 inches to service their needs. And in order to continue it and have the pressure at the end, we needed a 20-inch main, so we paid for the difference.”
The new Million Air hangar is under construction on the west side of the terminal, with portions of the exterior skeleton installed. The construction includes the installation of the water main for firefighting services.
Kim DeTrolio, the port’s director of finance and administration, said the company’s original plan was to install a water main big enough to fight a fire at the hangar. That wouldn’t work for the rest of the port’s undeveloped property on the west side. That requires a 20-inch main.
The bigger water main is for firefighting only, DeTrolio said. Any development on the west side will be required to get water and sewer hookups from the city of Moses Lake, she said.
The west side industrial property was opened up in 2021, after port officials built a road connecting their property with state Route 17. The road also connects to Road 10 Northeast.
The west side expansion was necessary because the industrial land on the port’s east side is already taken, said former port Director Don Kersey in a 2020 interview.