City officials broke ground on the $10-million project in March last year. One of the first actions was demolishing the original 9,500-square-foot station on the site — commonly referred to as Fire Station No. 1.

The new station will have a large fire apparatus bay and include 10 firefighter dorm rooms, five restrooms, a kitchen and dining room, a laundry room, training rooms and office space.

The new facility also will include efficiency features such as solar panels that will provide energy to heat water. Windows and tubular skylights will illuminate the facility with natural light.

The newer 59-foot long vehicle has a 70-gallon foam system, which can be used for vehicle fires, something the older one didn’t have.

The truck also has a heavier weighted ladder at 500 pounds, meaning the 100-foot-long ladder can hold more weight distributed evenly. The old fire truck is 58 feet long with a 110-foot ladder weighing 250 pounds.

The equipment on the older fire truck will be placed on the new truck. Both can seat nine firefighters. Additional modifications could be done to the newer ladder truck.

Héctor Chaves, director of the Bomberos, said that they attend these incidents in the company of police because it is not the first time that the vandals have stoned the units.

But, on Saturday night, they had 16 calls, five of them in Parrita, three in Alajuela, seven in Heredia and one in San Jose. During one of the calls, the crowd started stoning the fire trucks when the firemen tried to put out the flames.

The 8,800-square-foot building wasn’t built on the location of the previous hall, but rather at a site with easy access to Highway 15. The dirt work for the building project and placement of water lines was completed already last year.

The building itself was finished this February with room for the department’s five fire trucks and two ambulances. In addition to space for vehicles, the facility also boasts a kitchen, meeting room, EMS storage rooms, office and work rooms, with a second-story mezzanine for storage.