A $3 million fire station planned for the Eagle Rock-Golden-Mano Fire Protection District will break ground this year, pushing the district into 24-7 coverage.
Mark Pierson, district chief, said planning for the facility began a couple of years ago, with plans mostly drawn up by the time officials began working with Ireland Architecture, out of Springfield. The new station will be about 10 feet behind the current station at 30625 Hwy. 86 in Eagle Rock, and the current building will be emptied and demolished.
“We had all our ideas and knew what we wanted,” he said. “Once our tax passed last year, that allowed us to buy some equipment like turnout gear and jaws that were outdated. Now that we’re done with that, we are building a new station.”
The new facility will have two male and two female bedrooms, male and female bathrooms, a conference area, a day room with TV for employees, three drive-thru bays and a medical unit bay.
“It will also have a bigger, updated kitchen, which our 24-7 staff will use down the road,” Pierson said. “Right now, we only have three full-time employees working 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Once this is built, we will be full-time 24-7, 365.”
Along with the three full-time employees now, the Eagle Rock-Golden-Mano Fire Protection District has 18 volunteers, and the current firehouse is about 50 years old.
“We added a conference room here about 20 years ago, but we’ve outgrown this building,” Pierson said. “We also only have two bays and four firetrucks right now, and they are not drive-thru, so we have to back all of them in.”
Pierson said the district has also seen an uptick in calls over recent years, responding to 780 in 2022 and 700 in 2021.
In April 2022, voters approved a ballot measure to raise the district’s levy by up to 45 cents, nearly doubling the amount. The measure passed with 322 votes in favor (76 percent) to 100 votes against (24 percent). The levy is now at .8095, and the district operates on an annual budget of about $600,000.
Pierson said groundbreaking on the new facility was set for May, but has now been pushed to August at the latest, with construction by R.E. Smith to take about a year.
