The spacious new fire station boasts 80-foot bays for the fire engines, a medical treatment room, a laundry room, training areas, a kitchen, office spaces and five dorm rooms to accommodate mixed-gender crews.
Blackburn, 88, a third-generation firefighter, began working at the original firehouse in 1959 when police and fire were still one department, he said. Years later, Blackburn came back to work there as a captain in the 1980s.
He said the changing neighborhood in the years he was there necessitated a new updated fire station that was more workable.