“We’ve worked over ten years on this process to develop a strategic plan to put us in a modern response model and we are reaping the rewards for all of that hard work starting today,” said interim fire chief Tom Butts.
The city has been staffing four firehouses, originally built as volunteer stations, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Crews moved into Station 32 in late February, Butts said.
“Our facilities were dilapidated, dated, over 40 years old. We had firefighters sleeping in closets and areas that weren’t really designed for 24-hour habitation, so the morale of our personnel is great. They love the new facility,” Butts said.
Station 32 and those being built have individual bedrooms for each first responder on shift.
The location and layout of the station should improve response times, said battalion chief Jon Durrenberg.
“(There are) a number of ways that the community will be better served,” Durrenberg said. “One is the response time off of Far Hills, the other one being with the training facilities that we have contained in this building as well as the future buildings. We’ll be able to stay in our districts while we’re doing training rather than going to a central location.”
The bay at Station 32 also serves as a training space for rope and ladder drills, while the clock tower provides three levels of confined-space training, complete with replicated manhole openings.
About 100 local leaders and community members gathered for the ribbon cutting and fire station tours given by members of the Kettering Fire Department. One person Butts recognized during the ceremony, though not on hand, was Terry Jones who retired as fire chief on Monday after 29 years of service.
“Chief Jones provided great insight through the vision that he had for a response model and helped us work through the design and configuration of our new fire stations,” Butts told the crowd.
Some who attended the opening live in the neighborhood and were initially opposed to the construction of the station.
“We were, along with the neighbors, concerned, wanting to make sure that the end product turned out well,” said Greg Nelson, owner of The Carlyle House Assisted Living Community, which is next door to Station 32.
The city invited Nelson and another neighbor, Mark Messer, to serve on the station’s design committee.
“We added some ideas and the architect I think did a phenomenal job with this building,” Nelson added.
The second new fire station and department headquarters, located on Hempstead Station Drive, is expected to open later this year.
Construction is expected to begin late this year on the new station located on the city’s east side. The city is in the process of finalizing the location for its new west side station, which is expected to be constructed in 2017, according to city manager Mark Schwieterman.
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