Garden City officials, employees and residents marked the completion of the full renovation of the city's Fire Station 2 during a lunch and a tour of the facility Tuesday. Fire Chief Corbin Medeiros said work to expand the 35-year-old station on U.S. 80 began last fall and provided additional space not only for the department’s equipment, but also for the firefighters to rest and unwind.
The work, an expense of about $375,000, was paid for entirely by special purpose local option sales tax funds, and mostly was conducted in-house by city employees. City Building Safety and Planning Director Ron Alexander said doing the renovations in-house contributed to a substantial savings for Garden City.
The station's new design provides an office for the assistant chief and for additional storage upstairs, the chief said. The back of the station, meanwhile, has space for the three firefighters on shift at a given time to relax, cook, sleep, shower and wash their towels and gear, Medeiros said.