York County has hired a contractor to replace the county's oldest operational fire station. Fire Station 1, located on Route 17 in Grafton, has seen more than half a century of operation, said Fire Chief Stephen Kopczynski. The station, opened around 1960 for the area's at-the-time volunteer firefighters, has not aged well.
The '60s were a much different time in both building construction and firefighting, said Assistant Chief Christopher Sadler. The trucks at the time were from around 1955, he said, and roughly 26 feet long by about 6.5 feet wide.
The new station is already addressing that issue by being placed slightly off Route 17 at the intersection of Dare Road and Constitution Drive, Sadler said. Currently, the firefighters have to hit a large red button by the station's garage doors to shut down traffic on Route 17 during an emergency.
Sisler said the new building should address the issues the firefighters are experiencing with Fire Station 1. He couldn't comment on specifics as the new station is only just entering its design phase, and still has yet to exist even on paper.
The county Board of Supervisors approved spending $554,530 from the Capital Improvement Plan to have a firm design the new structure at its June 21 meeting. The contract was awarded to RRMM Architects of Chesapeake.
The board approved $2 million to replace the station in the county's 2017 budget. The capital improvement plan includes spending roughly $4 million on the station in 2018. If approved, a total of $6,175,000 from fiscal year 2017 through fiscal year 2022 would go to the project.