WENATCHEE, WA—Construction of a new Wenatchee fire station is underway.
Crews broke ground Oct. 1 on what will be a 16,000-square-foot station for Chelan County Fire District 1.
“Overall, it’s moving along really well,” said Chief Brian Brett. "The weather has cooperated with us as far as the contractors being able to work.”
The new Station 10 will be on the 600 block of North Wenatchee Avenue next to Joe’s Log Cabin. The project is budgeted at roughly $5.3 million.
The station will have modernized offices, a training room and living quarters on separate floors. Brett said the station will be equipped with a ladder truck, reserve engine, rescue truck, brush truck and a vehicle for battalion chiefs.
And they’ll repurpose an old fire pole from the Chelan Street station for firefighters to slide down.
Construction is a year behind schedule, Brett said. The original lead architect died and the soil testing results were negative, Brett said. The site was formerly home Prospector Pies and before that a gas station.
The facility will replace the current station in downtown Wenatchee at 136 S. Chelan St. and is expected to be completed by June.
The city of Wenatchee owns the Station 10 building on Chelan Street and is allowing the fire district to stay until the new station is built. The city expects to ask for requests for proposals next month, said Executive Services Director Allison Williams.
Station 10’s move is the latest in a series of location changes for the fire district. The stations will be spread in a relatively straight line from Malaga to Sunnyslope.
The district began shifting the locations of its stations after it annexed the city of Wenatchee into its boundaries in 2015. By spacing out the stations, firefighters can better cover the area.
“Now that we’re all done the layout of the stations is congruent with our fire district boundaries,” Brett said.
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