Jul. 21—The Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport is assuming a key responsibility in the transportation facility's emergency response in about one year.

The airport's authority board approved spending $144,000 on training and equipment so an airport employee, not a Lewiston firefighter, can staff a firetruck 15 minutes before and after every commercial passenger and charter flight with 30 passengers or more.

The money will be in the budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 and is in addition to $57,000 that the airport expects to spend annually to provide the service, according to the decision made at a Tuesday meeting.

Right now the airport is paying the city of Lewiston $119,000 a year to monitor flights to meet a Federal Aviation Administration requirement.

No date has been set for the transition but board Chairman Gary Peters said he anticipates it would be sometime this spring and definitely before the upcoming fiscal year ends Sept. 30, 2022.

The Lewiston firefighter's job is to race to the scene within minutes of a crash in a specially equipped firetruck and extinguish flames at the exits of the aircraft so that passengers and crew can evacuate.

That initial response would be followed with Lewiston firefighters and paramedics arriving to treat accident victims and transport them to the hospital, something that will still happen after the change.

The shift in responsibilities is being done for financial reasons and reflects no ill will, said Airport Director Michael Isaacs.

The savings is significant and will add up over time, Peters said.

"We could staff a whole (other) employee and we could do just that much better a job," he said.

When the transition happens, the city and the airport should communicate about the timing and protocols that will be followed by Lewiston firefighters in emergencies, said Lewiston Fire Chief Travis Myklebust, who attended the meeting.

In a related matter, the airport board approved an agreement for the city of Lewiston to pay the airport $6,962 annually for the use of an airport building and property that houses a city of Lewiston fire station starting Oct. 1, 2019, said the airport's attorney, Thad O'Sullivan.

The start date coincides with when the city of Lewiston began charging the airport $119,000 a year for manning the airport's truck before and after commercial flights.

Until then, the city had provided those firefighting services at no charge in exchange for use of the fire station.

The city of Lewiston plans to move the fire station at the airport to the corner of Fifth Street and Bryden Avenue in the spring of 2023, to help improve response times.

In other business, board members said they support a $40,000 upgrade of upstairs men's and women's bathrooms at the airport and a repair of the men's bathroom on the main floor of the facility.

A series of restaurants and bars were previously adjacent to the upstairs restrooms. Since those businesses closed, few people use them, but that is expected to change soon.

The airport is adding space to the waiting area on the second floor for passengers who have cleared security. A new staircase is being installed and walls are being rearranged so those passengers have access to the bathrooms.

A number of upgrades will be made in the project such as replacing dented stall walls in the men's upstairs bathrooms that appear to have been the scene of a couple of bar fights, Isaacs said.

The extra space will be needed when the Lewiston airport, which has nonstop service to Salt Lake City on SkyWest, adds direct service to Denver on United Airlines seven days a week this fall, Peters said.

"It's going to be a fresh start for everything," he said.

Williams may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2261.

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