Instead, the department bought a home on Mountain City drive -- a move approved by the Mountain City Council. Chief Taylor explained that typically new fire stations cost three to four million dollars to build. Instead, they took a different approach by taking care of it themselves at a fraction of the estimated cost, spending $370,000 to make it happen.
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"They [firefighters] did a lot of the work, and that was important. You know firefighters, on their days off, they do other jobs. A lot of them do construction and that kind of stuff, so they got to make little overtime to rebuild the house," said Taylor. "So we bought a house and built a big garage in the back and converted the house, and it's been working very well so far."
It's a lot homier than probably most fire stations. It's complete with three bedrooms, a custom-made kitchen, living room, workout space, back patio and of course, a large garage to house the fire engines. Just down the road from Hays High School, the fire station was built at the perfect place and time.