The Jefferson Fire Protection District has broken ground on a new $6.3-million fire station next to the current station off Route 37 on the south end of Mt. Vernon. Johannes Construction of Centralia has been awarded the bid to construction the new station. It was made possible by voters approving a bond issue in the March election.
Assistant Chief Ryan Clinton says the new facility will have 18,000 square feet of space.
“The current building is a little over 8,000 square feet,” Clinton said. “There’s no separation from the living quarters and the apparatus bay. This new station is designed around the health and the safety of our firefighters. There’s a clear separation from our engine bay to where our gear is kept. Areas where we can decontaminate ourselves before we go back into the living quarters. We have more sleeping areas for our firefighters, individual rooms for them so they have privacy. We have a large training room that will be able to seat forty plus people.”
Clinton says right now all members of the department will not fit in the training room. He reports the new station will also have more doors, which will improve operations.
“Our current station only has two doors, one door in and one door out,” Clinton said. “It houses ten fire trucks, so we have to jockey trucks around. If we need to pull side-by-sides out, we have to do that. Our new build is going to be six bays. There will be doors out each side, so there will be twelve doors. It’s a big building, but every apparatus will have its own door, so we don’t have to move trucks anymore.”
The new building is expected to be completed by next October when an open house and dedication will be held. Jefferson Fire has been in its current station since 1960, but the building itself dates back to 1948.
