Fire Station No. 1 officially opens on north side

By Collin Gallant on September 7, 2018.

A truck backs into a large bay at the new fire station north of the South Saskatchewan River. With the move to the new station complete, the doors at the old Maple Avenue location officially closed for good.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

Fire trucks pulled out of the Maple Avenue Fire Station for the last time at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday — moving day for Platoon 3 to the new station located north of the South Saskatchewan River.

An official grand opening of the new Fire Station No. 1 is planned for mid October, but crews since Saturday have been moving equipment eight blocks north to the facility on Parkview Drive.

They began full operations there as soon as the engines made the trip across the bridge and parked in massive bays of the new $8.25-million building completed in August.

Capt. Jeff Kozakewich made the trip with a half dozen firefighters, who will now hear the alarm sound in the north-end building.

“It’s been a lot of work but we’re pretty happy to be the guys on the last shift at the one building and the first shift at this one,” he told the News.

The station is the last piece of a six-year plan to improve fire response times in the city’s far south and far north communities. City councillors i 2012 rejected a plan to build a fourth station — and add $4 million per year in operating costs — and instead approved a department plan to move two existing stations further out from the centre of the city.

Operations at the Dunmore Road station were moved to a new building on Trans-Canada Way in early 2017, and can more quickly reach homes south of the highway.

Chief Brian Stauth said the new No. 1 hall, near the intersection of Parkview and Altawana drives, will mean response times to Crescent Heights and Ranchlands will drop, without affecting coverage in central communities.

“It’s been a long process, but it’s good to be done,” he said.

Fire service administration offices and training facilities moved to the Trans-Canada Way Station when it opened. Currently, members of the city’s health and safety department use office space at the Maple Avenue station, but they are slated to take over redeveloped space at city owned building that served as the Downtown Post Office until a few years ago.

Note: The headline to this story has been updated to correct the number of the fire station.