Relocation plans for Caldwell's oldest fire station

September 3, 2024 5:23 PM: Pushed from Newsdesk to 'DIGITAL'

Caldwell officials are set to relocate and rebuild Fire Station One. It's just one of many anticipated projects made possible from the passing of a 17.3 million dollar bond last November.

Fire Chief Richard Frawley has presented three main options for the station's future. The first involves moving operations to three separate locations: the old City Hall site, the current police department, and the fire administration building.

The second option proposes renovating the existing station, adding a new bay to accommodate growth, and relocating the administration staff.

The third option is to build a new station on city-owned property on Chicago Street. The city council has asked the fire department to provide detailed cost estimates for each option so they can thoroughly evaluate which choice will best serve the community's future needs.

• Caldwells oldest fire station, station is possibly relocating.
• The station has been serving the community since 1966.
• Fire Station one has had three renovations since.

(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)

Fire officials in Caldwell hope to relocate and reconstruct station number one.

This station was built in 1966. It was expanded three times to, “Accommodate the extra population coming in since the 60’s and with that extra population we got extra staff and extra apparatus and with all those extra apparatus and personnel we’ve run out of room,” said Caldwell's Deputy Chief of Administration Bryan Daniels.

It's just one of many anticipated projects made possible from the passing of a 17.3 million dollar bond last November.

Caldwell Fire Chief Richard Frawley previously presented three options to city council.

Option one is his top choice which would move the station's resources to three locations utilizing the site of the old city hall, current police department, and fire administration building.

“It maintains our presence in downtown ensuring our response time are meeting the standard for the area that we are trying to protect,” said Daniels.

Their second option would keep the location at cross streets, rebuilding or renovating the existing structure, and adding an additional bay to meet the city's growing demands. It would also require administration staff to be relocated.

The final option up for consideration would be to build a brand new station on city-owned property on Chicago street.

“Which kinda takes us out of the downtown core door may potentially impact some response time but overall takes our presence away and so we really want to maintain and downtown presence,” said Daniels.

City council members previously raised questions surrounding impact fees and land prices to compare the options. As well as whether the city would keep or sell the land where station one currently sits.

Before making a decision, the council asked the department to detail what each option would cost and what would best serve the community's future growth.