City Manager Jerry Ihler said the contractor (Ross Construction Group) has completed the station's floor pad, has erected the walls for the firefighter living area and now is erecting walls for the bay area. Infrastructure work also is planned to support the station that will serve the city's southwest quadrant, Ihler said, noting that a new waterline has been installed and work on a sewer line is underway. In addition, T&G Construction has been issued a notice to proceed on work to upgrade Bishop Road between Southwest 52nd and Southwest 67th streets so the road will support the weight of fire trucks (the same work will be done on the southern portion of Southwest 52nd Street, north of Bishop Road). Construction is expected to take almost a year.

That station is not the only public safety facility being planned for Lawton.

The 2015 CIP will fund construction of a public safety complex on Railroad Street, south of East Gore Boulevard, which will house the Lawton Police Department and city jail, Municipal Court, and Central Fire Station. Ihler said Dewberrry Architects has begun designs of the 100,000-square-foot building for a construction project that is expected to total $29 million to $30 million. The project is expected to be let for bids in 2017.

The city will hire nine full-time fire fighters to staff the new station.

Barnes said grading work on the site will begin next week and the new fire station should be completed by the end of Summer 2017.

Chief Kostas Alibertis, at the Albemarle-Western Rescue Squad, says the new truck will allow the squad to perform multiple rescues at a time.

"In the past there would be, air supply trucks would come from Earlysville, Charlottesville, to Crozet to help. So we're able to keep those resources in their community and utilize this much closer to support anything that may be going on in western Albemarle County, Batesville, White Hall areas," said Alibertis.

The vehicle is not specified as a fire truck, but has the capability to respond to emergencies involving fire. The squad says its new truck is guaranteed to last the next 20-years.

The 2007 chassis the state agency donated to the Crockery Township department had less than 10,000 miles on it, according to Township Fire Chief Gary Dreyer.

"We had the frame stretched and a new apparatus body and pump installed," Dreyer said. "The total cost (of the renovated vehicle) will be around $169,000."

The money comes out of millage funds.

The department took delivery of the 4,000-gallon tanker last week and is in the process of installing all the needed equipment on it.

Dreyer said they hope to have the truck complete and all personnel trained so the tanker will be ready to roll by the end of the month. Firefighters have already tested the pump, rated at 1,000 gallons per minute, he said.

Also a former DNR vehicle, the 1988 truck, tanker 563, was renovated and put into service in about 2007, Dreyer said. Under the former DNR program, this truck will be turned back to that agency for auction at that time.

Two other vehicles — a late 1970s and a 1986 brush truck — are also DNR vehicles and will be turned over to that agency when the fire department is done with them.