Federal funding for RIC safety facility announced

New federal funding announced July 9 by U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine will help Richmond International Airport build a two-story, 30,000-square-foot aircraft rescue and fire fighting station.

The Capital Region Airport Commission is receiving $4 million in federal funds to use toward the project, as part of more than $21.2 million in federal funds earmarked to support infrastructure improvements at 10 airports throughout Virginia.

The funding came through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration Airport Infrastructure Grant program, made possible by the bipartisan infrastructure law, according to a press release from the senators' offices.

“This investment is a major win for Virginia’s travelers and communities and will help to ensure our airports are safer, more efficient, and ready to meet growing demand in the years to come,” Warner and Kaine said in a press release.

The Richmond International Airport Master Plan Revision document, developed three years ago, described the ARFF facility as supporting a special category of firefighting that involves the response, hazard mitigation, evacuation, and possible rescue of passengers and crew of an aircraft involved in an airport ground emergency. The airport's existing ARFF facility is located in the center of the airfield between Runways 16-34 and 2-20, was commissioned in 1981 and has four truck bays.

A new ARFF facility design is among nearly 20 recommended airside developments included in the airport's master plan.

“With great appreciation to our federal representatives, the $4 million awarded to RIC will be applied to construction costs of a new Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting station. We expect construction to be underway this fall,” Troy Bell, director of marketing and air service development at the Richmond International Airport told the Citizen.

A further breakdown in the airport's master plan, pegged to the fiscal year 2023, listed the anticipated design and construction costs of the ARFF facility to be $11 million, with $10 million in funds listed as originating from a Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program ($5.4 million from entitlement funds and $4.6 million from discretionary funds).

The Commonwealth of Virginia is listed as contributing $1 million of the facility's total cost.

The new facility will include, among other features:

• six drive-through bays that are large enough to accommodate modern equipment;

• office space for better training and support initiatives;

• 10 single-room living quarters and four single-user showers for male and female firefighters;

• a kitchen, dining and exercise area that opens to the outside;

• a watch/alarm room with a complete view of the runways.

The location of the new facility will make it safer, Bell said, since it will provide easier access for incoming and outgoing shifts.

In a graphic mapping future projects and developments at the airport, the relocated ARFF facility was shown to be a project that would span through this year.

An effort to redesign and renovate the ARFF was just one of 49 “near-term planning horizon projects” for RIC through 2025 totaling $278 million. Other projects include Concourse B expansion design and runway drainage improvements.

Warner and Kaine's press release outlined a total of an additional $700,000 in federal funding aimed at updating Virginia’s existing airport system plan, without noting specifically how much (if anything) might be earmarked for RIC.

As of May, more than 1.88 million travelers had used Richmond International Airport, according to the airport's latest statistics.

Dina Weinstein is the Citizen’s community vitality reporter and a Report for America corps member, covering housing, health and transportation. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.