With the new year will come a new home for Emporia Fire, if current plans hold, which they have so far.
According to an update from Emporia Fire Chief Brandon Beck on KVOE’s monthly Q&A Segment Tuesday, the new Emporia Fire Department headquarters in the 500 block of Market Street should be complete and ready for use by mid-January. Beck says they are very excited to be moving into the new facility, noting it is a decades-long discussion that turned into a rapidly moving construction project over the last year.
Beck says when it comes to projects such as this, a slow pace in development and fast progression through construction is somewhat typical.
The better than $10 million facility will have five apparatus bays with over 8,000 square feet of space just for equipment, 10 private bunk spaces, dedicated lockers, new administrative space and a three-zone setup for cleanup and decontamination. Beck says the decontamination aspect of the facility was a major focus from the beginning and one that will drastically increase health and safety for their crew.
Beck says the benefits of the decontamination space will not only benefit fire and EMS but also civilian employees and visitors to the station.
Once work wraps up at the new headquarters, focus will shift to Fire Station 2 at 15th and Industrial, with plans in place to update and improve the current facility.
As for the longtime headquarters space inside of White Auditorium, set to be vacated once the new facility is completed, there have not been any exact plans announced for how the space will be used in the future; however, during Tuesday’s interview, it was noted that several departments have their eyes on it for a variety of reasons. This includes the Emporia Police Department, according to Chief Ed Owens.
Beck says a ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place for the new headquarters once the department has made the full move into the facility next year.
