Boone County Fire Protection District holds open house for new fire station on Route K
BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Boone County Fire Protection District held an open house Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the opening of the Fire Station No. 8.
The $4.7 million facility is located on Route K just feet away from the old facility that was built in 1981. Assistant Chief Gale Blomenkamp said BCFPD decided to stay on Route K due to call volume, call locations and district coverage.
The new fire station has had one to two calls a day since opening Nov. 5, according to Blomenkamp. The new 13,000 square foot station offers several major upgrades.
"It's about twice the size. So this station we were able to come in under budget. So we were at $250,000 under what we budgeted to building this thing. So I think that's a testament to how the project went with the construction team that built it." Blomenkamp said.
Voters approved funding for the project through a 2023 bond issue.
Upgrades include a new building that has a built-in training tower, a training room, workout space, a larger kitchen and six resident rooms.
The new station also offers a four vehicle bays that are larger compared to three bays its previous location.
"Having the larger bays, 14-foot doors, 14-feet tall and then the ability to drive through and not have to back our fire truck in traffic and try to back them into a fire station that may or may not be very visible inside," Blomenkamp said.
The training tower is the first to be onsite at a Boone County fire station, Blomenkamp said. It is two-stories and allows firefighters to practice hose movements, standpipes and scape windows.
"So the training tower is really nice instead of having to go up to 63 and training at their training center we have a lot of stuff we can do here as far hose movement, search and rescue some different things," BCFD Capt. Don Baker said.
The old station offered a washer and dryer for firefighters to wash their gear, but it was located in the bays, putting firefighters health at risk. The new station features a closed-off area to wash gear.
"We separated the cancer causing off gasing of gear and chemicals, we added washer and dryers for our gear so it just makes it safer all around for our firefighters," Blomenkamp said.
A new training room was also dedicated at the new station, something crews says will make a big difference.
"Other than the upgrades, I think the big thing is that we have a really nice training room. As far as, getting more people in it and the upgrade as far as electronics, hopefully we'll get more residents out of it because the amenities that we have are top notch," Baker said.
"We are blessed to have a really good fire district here, you can go a couple of counties over smaller county base and they just don't have the luxuries that we have," Baker said
Last year, Fire Station No. 8 responded to 579 calls of service.
