About 50 years after creating the plans for the Ocean City-Wright Fire Department's first station 1, John Johnston went back to the drawing board."I drew the plans for the original building and I helped with the plans for this one," the Ocean City-Wright Fire Control District commissioner said Wednesday inside the new station 1.
The facility, which Johnston affectionately refers to as a "fire house," remains under construction and might open in December of January.
The new, two-story, 17,560-square-foot station has five bays and stands on the southeast corner of Jackson Street and Racetrack Road. The $3.4 million project is being developed by Lord & Son Construction of Fort Walton Beach. The namesake of the company is not related to Ocean City-Wright Fire Chief Billy Lord, Johnston said.
Nonetheless, firefighters and other employees are "packed in like sardines right now," said Johnston, who served as a fire fighter for 37 years. "We ran out of room a long time ago. To bring it up to ADA-compliance would cost more than it's worth, and we wanted our own training facility."
Other benefits of the new facility include its access and exit points for fire trucks and other vehicles, he said. Getting to and leaving the structure will be much easier and safer in comparison to the setup at the original station, Johnston said.
He said all of the fire department's fire fighters gave input on the new structure, the first floor of which includes eight bunk rooms, a fitness room, showers and a day room. The second floor includes offices for the fire chief and other administrators, and also a conference room where the fire commissioners will conduct their monthly meetings.