A $5.7 million renovation to turn a former fire hall into Red Deer’s Emergency Services headquarters is nearing completion.
The former Fire Station No. 3 on 32nd Street has lost its fire engine bays and gained a concrete curved brick security wall in front of the building.
Matt White, the acting deputy fire chief, said on Thursday this black brick wall will act as a security screen — protecting the building in case a car loses control in the intersection right in front and slams into the structure.
The wall will eventually get a public art feature.
About 70 city staffers are expected to work in the new administrative building once the renovation by Timcon Construction is completed on schedule at the end of March. The renovation began last May.
White said fire crews from Fire Station No. 3 were previously moved to a new station on Lee Street, south of the Collicutt Centre. The city had been growing to the southeast with Vanier Woods, and emergency response times to all areas of Red Deer had to be maintained at the industry standard, he explained.
Similarly, the former Deer Park fire hall No. 4 was decommissioned and sold to a private developer after its emergency crews were relocated to a new fire hall in Timberlands.
The 32nd Street former station has continued to house some city administrative departments, as it has since 1982, said White. The loss of fire engines and crews left an opportunity to gain space for departments that had been operating in cramped quarters.
Fire prevention, fire dispatch and information technology operate out of the building — although some of these services were temporarily moved off-site while renovations were underway, said White.
He noted new meeting space has also been created for an emergency command centre.
Although the city is letting the local state of emergency for the pandemic lapse on Feb. 15, with COVID-19 cases now dropping in the province, other emergencies can arise, including flooding and derailments, said White. The city’s emergency command members will have a place to gather and make plans.
The City of Red Deer also operates Fire Station No. 1 in the downtown, and Fire Stations No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, on 67th Street and in Johnstone Park.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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