WASHINGTON - A bill is on its way to the U.S. House that includes $2.5 million to plan and design a new fire station at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.

The authorization is included in the final version of the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act passed by both the House and Senate Thursday.

The country’s annual national defense bill includes the funding that Senator Sherrod Brown says is critical to the mission at the Air Reserve Station whose firefighters are not only responsible for fire safety on the base but also respond to emergencies in neighboring Mahoning Valley communities.

“Being a small rural community we don’t have a lot of volunteers in the township during the daytime so we’re short staff so we automatically go to our mutual aid and the air base is on our first mutual aid call box,” Chief Richard Brannon of the Vienna Township Fire Department said.

The Cortland Fire Department only has 4 firemen a day when 14 firemen are needed at every scene. Whenever they need help the air reserve station sends five of their crew members and a truck. 

“The man power they provide us on a structure fire can be a game changer,” Chief David Rea of the Cortland Fire Department said.  

Mutual aid agreements with local community fire departments are reinforced with joint training events.

This final version of the bill was negotiated with the House of Representatives and is now headed to the president’s desk to be signed into law.

The annual defense package also includes investments in Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Camp Perry Joint Training Center, Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, and Lima’s Joint Systems Manufacturing Center.

“With this bipartisan national defense bill, we are investing in our servicemembers, and in the Ohio workers and industries crucial to keeping our country safe. By supporting our military installations, we help the Ohioans who work there do what they do best: protect our country,” said Brown.