Fairmont City Council passed an ordinance allowing the city to purchase property to construct a new east Fairmont fire station during last week's meeting. The current East Side fire station, located on Morgantown Avenue, is lacking the needed facilities, according to City Manager Robin Gomez, and a new station is greatly needed.
Fairmont Fire Chief Ed Simmons said that the department's current station on East Side may have been ideal decades ago, but the city needs an additional fire station that can adapt to the times.
"It's very inadequate," Simmons said. "There was a study done a few years ago, and one of the main priorities was the lack of infrastructure there required for modern fire equipment. It could barely fit a fire engine. The newer fire engines are taller. At that station, we have a very difficult time finding fire engines that can even fit into the station... I have literally inches on each side to get one of these apparatuses in there. It's just not safe."