By Haley Rose [1]
BELLEVILLE – The budget for a new fire station in Plainfield [2] was approved by Belleville council Tuesday night.
Council had denied the previous proposal for a new station last July.
The budget for the new fire station proposed Tuesday night is about $100,000 more than the original plan. The cost of the new station is projected to be $550,000.
But the new station includes a training centre.
“We went back and looked at it and tried to come up with a design that would include a training centre in the fire station. That’s what council approved here with the additional funds of $80,000, to add the training area to the station. It would certainly be most cost effective to do it now during the build rather than add it later. Building a fire station there is something that will last for years to come that will best serve the people of Plainfield and North,” said Belleville deputy fire chief Bruce Greatix.
Coun. Mitch Panciuk said, “I understand to do these additions now it would save us money in the long run.”
The new station in Plainfield will be the fifth fire station in the city.
According to Greatix, having a station in Plainfield will improve response time to that part of the city as well as help people with fire insurance [3].
“The station has been planned for a long time and we’re certainly glad to be given the approval so we can get started with it right away,” he said.
Construction is set to start at the beginning of summer so the project can be finished by the end of November.
In regard to firefighters to work out of the new station, Greatix said: “Right now there are enough volunteers that live in that area that could staff that station. We may take a look at staffing levels in the next few years just to see how busy the station will get. But we have many volunteers there now that respond to the Harmony Rd. station so it would be a good fit for them there.”