GREAT FALLS — Work to repair and reopen fire station #4 in Great Falls was poised Tuesday afternoon to get one step closer to reality.
Fire station #4 on Fox Farm Road needs a lot of work: "There's no kitchen, there's no bathroom. There's no shower or locker room area, so we'd have to get that going. We don't have any laundry facilities for our equipment,” explained interim Fire Chief Jeremy Jones.
At their meeting Tuesday night, City Commissioners were scheduled to consider awarding a contract for a little more than $217,000 to WVH Enterprises for the work.
The fire station has been essentially unusable since sewer line repairs were done earlier this year. "We never wanted to leave a district unprotected. We've done everything in our power that we could to try to minimize the offset of that,” said Jones.
Since the closure, the firefighters who work at the station have had to work from station #1. While that may not be ideal, it hasn't been all bad.
"District 1 is our busiest house, about 3,800 calls a year, so having two crews run out of that house has really helped us with the call volume in that district,” said Jones.
Station 1 is big enough to house multiple crews, too. Having multiple crews there at once has made social distancing a little challenging, however, Jones said.
Jones said if the commissioners approve the bid for the work, it will feel like the light at the end of the tunnel. "Everyone's anxious to get this project going, to get this project done, and to see it come to completion,” Jones said.
If the bid is approved, he’s hopeful the work can be completed in February or March of 2021.
