The city of Meridian will move forward with building its sixth fire station in 2018 — a project that was going to be delayed a year until the Meridian Rural Fire District stepped in.

The rural fire district has offered to pay for the station’s first 13.5 months of operations, including wages and benefits of up to 12 firefighters. That expense is projected at $1.5 million.

The city has also picked the construction company that will build the four stations. Hausmann Construction, a local company, was the top choice for the construction manager at-risk contract for the four stations by a selection committee created for the bid process. And Mayor Chris Beutler agreed with their recommendation, according to Rick Hoppe, chief of staff to Beutler.

"We need a new station in north Ankeny because of explosive growth. We’ve had a lot of people move into Ankeny over the past ten years. We are going to get a brand new station that looks just like this one with a brand new ambulance, brand new engine and a bunch of brand new firefighters,” Ankeny Fire Chief Jim Clack said.

Clack said the new station will be modeled after Station 2 which was built about nine years ago.

He said their stations take care of everything from a hazardous spill to fires.