James Mayse
Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
(TNS)
Work on the new Owensboro Fire Department Station 3 on Cravens Avenue is progressing, with much of the exterior complete and crews now putting up drywall inside.
If work remains uninterrupted by weather or construction delays, fire crews are expected to move into the new station in the spring.
By that time, the city will be moving ahead with plans to build a new OFD Station 1 at Locust and West Ninth streets.
Assistant City Manager Lelan Hancock said the hope is that Station 3 will be ready for occupancy by late April.
Workers “are doing the interior. They are hanging drywall,” Hancock said Friday.
Meanwhile, design work on Station 1 has been underway for some time, and the plan is to bid the project out to contractors before Station 3 is occupied by the fire department, Hancock said.
The city will bid Station 1 “probably by the end of March,” Hancock said.
By the time a contractor is chosen and ready to begin work, Station 3 will be in service, which is part of the fire department’s plan for covering Station 1’s territory while the old station is demolished and a new one is built.
“I need to make sure they are moved into Station 3 … before I can start disrupting them in Station 1,” Hancock said.
Battalion Chief Jason Pickrell, a member of the Station 1 design team, said when firefighters move out of Station 1, Engine 1 and its crew will be based at the new fire training center, which has the facilities and bay space to serve as a small fire station. Ladder 1, which serves both the Station 1 and Station 3 territories, will relocate to Station 3.
Rescue 1, which responds to calls across the city, “can be really anywhere” at any fire station, Pickrell said.
The units will be stationed at places to “still provide the same level of service” as if Station 1 were operational, Hancock said.
Pickrell said designing the new Station 1 takes time, but firefighters are excited about the plans.
“I’ve been in the department for 24 years, and these (current) stations are all I know,” Pickrell said. “To see something fresh and new, I won’t know how to act.”
The improvements to the stations aren’t cosmetic. All the stations being redone will be larger, with private sleeping quarters, space for gear storage and cleaning, office space and pull-through vehicle bays, which both make it easier for large trucks to enter the stations after a run and provide better ventilation.
Station 3 “was built in the ’70s,” Pickrell said. “As time has (passed) and our services have evolved, we need more space.”
The city has already renovated S