Time is running out for preserving the yellow-painted firehouse with red bay doors, built in 1910.  

The Mayor’s Budget Review Committee on Monday approved spending $2.6 million to purchase the property where the empty firehouse stands, which would enable the city to extend Forest Street in a straight shot across Riverside Avenue toward the St. Johns River.

The City Council will take up the measure next. If the city follows through, the extension of Forest Street would result in demolition of the old firehouse unless an investor comes forward who is willing to move the old building somewhere else.

Monday night, the city council held a work session to talk through a new site for the building. Previously, council members worked for the Flythe property on Georgia Ave. but that was recently tabled.  

Now, they’re looking at the Clay St. Property, next to the SRP Credit Union on Martintown Rd. Ultimately, the council wants the new fire station to be moved from Buena Vista Ave. to a location farther up the hill.

Mayor Bob Pettit says doing so will be best for the safety of the community. “It’s on a major artery and the response time, and the coverage area would be much better than what we have now to a large portion of the city.”

In a 7-0 vote Monday, Marion City Council allowed the city to contract with Quality Masonry Company, of Marion, to repair the fire station's weakening bay floor. Marion City Council members Robert Landon, R-1st Ward, and Rebbeca Gustin, D-At-large, were absent from Monday's meeting.  

The city fire department's ladder truck remains stationed at the Bellefontaine Avenue fire station, more than a year after it was moved there to prevent further damage to Station No. 1's floor.

City officials have been trying to fix structural issues at the city's main fire station, 186 S. Prospect St., since last year when cracks in the station's bay floor were brought to officials' attention.