The Middletown Fire Department held a ceremonial groundbreaking event for its new headquarters on Monday afternoon.
The ceremony marked the start of an ambitious plan to replace all four of the city's outdated fire stations over the next two years.
“The stations are going to be located in ideal areas, they’re going to have more storage, they’re going to be healthier environments for our firemen. And they’re going to provide an environment where they’re more well rested, they’re trained, they have all the tools that they need to serve the community better,” Chief Thomas Snively told WKRC Local 12.
Middletown has not built a new station since 1977. It's oldest station is 70 years old.
The city said none of the four meet the current standards or codes of modern fire stations.
“The trucks are diesel and the stations are not designed well to keep the diesel fumes and the other carcinogens out of the living quarters,” said Snively.
The new stations will also be more inclusive.
“We don’t really have the facilities in place for female firefighters and there’s more and more female firefighters coming into the profession, so it stops us from being inclusive which is a huge problem,” said Snively.
Construction of the new headquarters and station 82 is expected to be complete by November 2024. Stations 81 and 85 will start construction August 2024 and should be finished by June 2025.
The expected cost to build the new fire stations is around $26.8 million.
