First, the airport handled the arrival of several politicians last week, including candidates for U.S. president and vice president. Then, airport officials announced the purchase of a new PFAS-free fire truck for airport emergencies. Finally, airport officials are hosting an open house on Thursday to talk about the next phase of the master planning process.

“There’s always something going on at the airport,” said Charity Zich, director of the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport, on Tuesday. “It’s been busy, but we’re good at handling whatever comes our way.”

Chippewa Valley Regional Airport officials announced Monday that the facility has purchased a new 2024 Oshkosh Striker rescue and firefighting vehicle.

A new type of fire extinguishing foam is used that does not contain foam containing PFAS. Instead, the new truck uses a product called F3.

“This beauty complements our inventory of public safety equipment to ensure timely response to aircraft emergencies at our airfield,” airport officials said in a Facebook post this week.

The truck carries 1,500 gallons of water, which can be dispensed via a bumper or roof tower.

Zich said airports the size of Chippewa Valley Regional Airport generally replace their fire trucks every 10 to 20 years and that an upgrade is due.

“We were in the phase where we had to plan the replacement of our ARFF (aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle) truck and tried to time it so that we would wait for the period when the FAA would have approved a new firefighting foam that did not have the intentionally added PFAs,” Zich said.

This happened earlier this year.

Zich said that with the new fire engine, the airport now has a total of three, but one of them will soon be retired.

“Our goal is to have a primary truck and a backup truck because they are unique and if there are problems, it can take a little longer to get parts and fix them,” she said. “We want to make sure we are operational and always have a truck available.”

The airport is not large enough to operate a full-fledged fire station, as some larger facilities do, but maintenance crews are trained to respond to airport emergencies, Zich said.

“Like many airports our size, we also train our maintenance team to provide emergency first response. So we work as first responders, so to speak, and then work with our local Eau Claire Fire Department and other partners to take charge of the incident scene once they arrive,” Zich said.

“This often happens even before there is an incident or a broken plane on the ground because they are so close. The Eau Claire Fire Department has its Station 8 right outside the airport fence.”

On Thursday evening, Chippewa Valley Regional Airport officials will host their third open house to announce details of the master planning process.

A master plan identifies and explains investment projects needed now and over the next two decades, establishes the relationships between proposed projects, and lists comprehensive long-term perspectives for upcoming decisions.

The Chippewa Valley Regional Airport Master Plan provides a development and expansion framework for a 20-year planning period, using 2011 as the base year. The airport master plan is a five-chapter document that is updated or reconfigured for up to ten years.

This meeting will provide the public with an opportunity to discuss existing and future airport needs and improvements, as well as various alternatives for the airport facilities. Participants will be able to learn about the final steps of the project.

According to the master plan, development alternatives are divided into categories that include runways/taxiways, navigational aids, passenger terminals, car parking, fueling facilities, aircraft hangars, aircraft de-icing facilities, aircraft rescue and firefighting facilities, and cargo facility alternatives.

Similar to the two open days last year, there will be a short presentation on Thursday at 6.30pm and the project team will be available to answer questions.

For a more in-depth discussion of the lecture topics, various stations are available for personal discussions.

On August 7, the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport was packed with politicians and press.

The airport welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris, her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and vice presidential candidate JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate.

Zich said it was a unique experience for airport staff, but she thought the day went smoothly.

“I think every time you do events like this, you learn a little bit,” she said Tuesday. “I think from our perspective, it went very well. The hardest part was just the size of the planes. You know, we’re not necessarily set up to park all of these larger planes at the same time.”

Flight operations were suspended during the campaign visits due to a temporary flight restriction, but Zich said she did not feel the restrictions had caused too many problems for other travelers. She said operations had been suspended for short periods during a ground freeze or ramp freeze, but otherwise the airport had been operating normal arrivals and departures.

“We didn’t have many sorties during the TFR. I think pilots are suspicious when they see these TFRs and generally just try to stay away,” Zich said.

Zich said that while there was a lot at stake for the airport that day, she felt staff managed the events wonderfully and she was grateful to everyone who helped oversee operations that day.