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Pittsburgh City Council

Lincoln Place Fire Station gets $4.5M budget boost to escape muddy floodplain.

Written by Amy Whipple

  • The Department of Public Works requested an additional $4.5 million to get the fire fighters in Hays out of the mud.
  • This will bring the total cost of constructing a new building in Lincoln Place, across the Monongahela River from Hazelwood, for Fire Station 20/Medic 12 to $17.7 million. The Department of Public Works asked council to expedite the contracts in order to begin construction.
  • Fire Station 20 is currently located on a floodplain in Hays.
  • Director of Public Works Chris Hornstein said the project is part of an overall program to address critical emergency responder needs. This includes the recent completion of Medic Station 4 in the Northside and the in-progress Fire Station 8 in East Liberty.
  • New or renovated stations are not the only structural problems for the city’s emergency responders. A post agenda meeting in May revealed that 33% of the fire trucks and 89% of Emergency Medical Service vehicles are past their service life or mileage limits. Hornstein said the department needs 10–15 million per year to appropriately maintain all emergency response vehicles but only $3 million a year is budgeted for the next five years.
  • A July meeting on the response to the April 29 storm further revealed that not all fire, EMS and police stations have generators.
  • Councilmember Barb Warwick of Greenfield said that the community’s desire for the new fire station in Lincoln Place began decades ago with funding accumulating since 2018.
  • The combined station for fire and emergency medical services will also include a “small” community room instead of the community center that the neighbors wanted.
  • Councilmembers Wilson and Charland said they wanted to make sure that the contractors will pay a prevailing wage. Don Mudrick, manager of personnel and finance for the Department of Public Works, said the prevailing wage is set by the federal government and the city is required to adhere to it, though union status cannot be a factor in determining contracts.

Connections to this story

Topics:
Public Safety & EMSInfrastructure
Governments:
Pittsburgh City Council
Public meetings:
City Council · September 3, 2025
Sources:
Resolution 2025-2147 — authorizing the Mayor and the Director of the Department of Public Works to enter into agreements for the construction…

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