Anybody who has spent more than 10 minutes in the Estevan Fire Rescue Service’s building knows that Estevan needed a new fire hall.
The building, which opened back in 1961, was crammed. The fire department seemingly used all 6,000 square feet at its disposal, and still had to store some of its rescue equipment, as well as a fire truck, down at the city yard.
The current fire hall has served the department well, but thanks to its location, there was no opportunity for expansion, so a replacement was needed.
The decision to purchase Murray GM’s former building, and turn it into a fire hall, makes perfect sense. The fire department gets the much larger building that they were looking for. It’s in a perfect location, and minimal work will be required before the fire department moves in.
Should we be thrilled with the purchase price of $2.3 million? Of course not. And it will cost a couple hundred thousand dollars to renovate. But it beats the alternative of spending more than $7 million to build a new fire hall in a few years.
Some might argue that it would be prudent to pass on this opportunity, and to buy a different building in a few years. But there’s no guarantee that there will be a suitable and available building, in the right location, in a few years.
And the fire department would still be in the same undersized, 56-year-old building for the next few years.
Related story: http://www.estevanmercury.ca/news/city/council-approves-purchase-of-new-fire-hall-1.7691582
How small is the current building? The fire department could have 32 paid on-call firefighters on their roster later this spring. It would be the most they could accommodate, because they can’t have more than 32 lockers in their present building. Imagine the fire department announcing they wouldn’t have a spring or fall recruiting intake because they can’t add any more firefighters to their active duty roster.
Not only is the location ideal, but the department will have immediate access to arterial roads like 13th Avenue and Souris Avenue North. The days of exiting the fire hall onto Third Street, and turning left on 11th Avenue before arriving onto Fourth Street are coming to an end.
The former Murray GM building has everything the fire department needs, with the exception of a couple more overhead doors, and those can be quickly installed.
Estevan residents are very fortunate to have well-trained, knowledgeable, paid on-call firefighters who are willing to leave their jobs, their families and their leisure time to respond to a call, even though more than 40 per cent of their calls are for false alarms.
They deserve a modern building that has all of the space and amenities they need.
And while their new home won’t be a brand new building, it’ll still feel like new, and it will serve them well for decades to come.
