GREAT FALLS — There will soon be a new place for Great Falls city vehicles to get gas - a new fueling system is being built behind the city’s Park & Recreation office along River Drive North.
It will replace the current fueling system at Fire Station 1.
The new system has an above-ground tank that holds 10,000 gallons of diesel and 10,000 gallons of gas and will be fenced in. Access will be through a gate with a multi-step security system to control access.
The system at Fire Station 1 has underground tanks, is not fenced in, and has reached the end of its lifespan, according to Great Falls Public Works director Paul Skubinna.
"These systems are the highest in state-of-the-art in safety and spill prevention. There's actually secondary containment included within the tank structure. So it was just time to upgrade,” Skubinna said of the new fueling system. "Along with that, we've got some DEQ regulations that are coming at us, going into effect here this fall or winter, so we wanted to get our old tank systems out of the ground ahead of that.”
Work on the new system is expected to be complete in about a month. The project will cost about $1 million.
The fueling system at Fire Station 1 will be removed, which Skubinna said could take a couple of months.
