"Our centrally located station is going to be a hindrance in the future because of the lack of the ability to reach out to the nether regions," said Toby Dougherty.

Fire chief Gary Brown agreed with Dougherty, saying the department's response time is nine minutes, and it could get harder for crews to meet that when the city is growing away from the station.

The chief said he also looks forward to having more space with a new station.

"The fire department has accumulated more equipment and apparatus over the years, and has added to this facility, but this facility is cramped," said Brown. "When a fire station's too cramped, there are inefficiencies and there are safety concerns."

Residents near the potential fire station tell KSN they have concerns about the noise it might bring. However, residents just a block away don't seem to mind.

Construction of the new fire hall was delayed while village officials grappled with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the level of funding for the replacement structure.

Village officials had hoped to have the bare-bones building done by the end of December, but some utility issues slowed things down, according to Mayor Malcolm Coles.

The building should be ready for occupancy next month, Coles said.

"We're looking hopefully at the middle of February to move the fire department and state police (substation). What we were shooting for with FEMA was to be significantly complete by December, which we basically were," he said. "There was a holdup on getting NYSEG to get poles set and power to the building. Then, natural gas was a holdup. Guys have been working off generators and portable heaters. I want to say we're on track to hopefully, if not move all the fire department up there, to at least start getting basic stuff moved."

The fire department still occupies half of the existing building on Front Street. The structure sits near the confluence of Bentley Creek and the Chemung River, and is also near Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.