A pair of Central Alberta communities will have new fire halls next year.
In Olds, a ground-breaking ceremony on a $3.2-million fire hall is set for Thursday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. It will be built next to the town’s RCMP detachment at 5110 65th Ave. and is expected to open next spring.
Mayor Judy Dahl said the town always intended to construct a building that could be used jointly by RCMP, fire and ambulance.
However, mould problems in the police detachment’s aging home in 2002 pushed a new station to the top of priority lists and that project went ahead first. The new station was opened in the fall of 2004.
The multi-bay fire hall will replace a 35-year-old fire hall that the department has long since outgrown. Among the improvements will be taller 4.2-metre bay doors, which are better suited to accommodate today’s larger fire equipment.
One bay will be leased to Alberta Health Services for ambulances.
Dahl said there are a lot of advantages to the new site.
“There’s some shared uses we can have happen there. It just made sense,” she said. For instance, a proposed gym will be shared by police and firefighters.
“Little things like that add to a lot at the end of the day, especially on morale,” she added.
The Olds Fire Department includes a chief and about 38 volunteer firefighters.
Town council approved a bylaw to borrow the cost of the project at its Sept. 26 meeting.
In Innisfail, a ground-breaking ceremony was held on Monday for a downtown fire station to be built on the site of the Mary Morton Public Library.
Last month, town council approved a nearly $1.8-million tender for the project, which will be built by St. Albert-based Johnston Builders Ltd.
The project will involve renovating the existing library to convert it into offices, and training, staff, exercise and club rooms. Male and female change rooms, an emergency operations centre and a hose-drying tower will also be created.
Seven equipment bays will round out the design and will be built on the library’s parking lot. The town has also purchased a vacant lot south of the property to provide space for parking and turning around fire vehicles.
The town is building a new $8.5-million gathering place that houses the library, a centre for seniors and meeting rooms. It is expected to be open by the new year.
Construction of the firehall is expected to wrap up late spring of next year.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com
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