As Greeley grows, so do its needs for additional public safety services such as fire protection and law enforcement.
City officials planned for these developments years ago with the creation of a tax-based project that funded the construction of a new fire station — the first in nearly two decades in Greeley — while building a new facility for a station currently in use, now one of the busiest in the city.
Construction is well underway at both stations, and they’re expected to open by early fall.
Station 2, going up next to the old station at the intersection of Reservoir Road and 23rd Avenue, is expected to open in late August. Station 6, the new and larger station on a new plot on 20th Street off U.S. 34, is expected to open one month later with 15 new hires to the department.
The exact opening dates for both stations has not been finalized. The city will have seven stations with the completion of Station 6, the first new station to open in Greeley since 2001.
The total cost of the project is $15.6 million, according to Greeley Fire Department Battalion Chief Christopher Ellmer. The cost breakdown includes $5.7 million for the 12,381 square-foot Station 2, and $7.4 million for Station 6, which is 18,471 square feet. There are also more than $2 million worth of ancillary costs with the Station 6 project, including a traffic signal, construction of 20th Street and fiber-optic work.
“As more people live out here, it gets to the point where we have to be comfortable with our response times,” said Ellmer while standing in the back of Station 6, with its four bays.
The station will also include a work area and office space for the Greeley Police Department.
At Station 2, which was originally built in 1958, the three-bay new building will allow for more space for equipment and personnel.
“It increases our capabilities and enhances safety,” Greeley Fire Department Battalion Chief and Fire Marshal Bob Fries said. “There’s more room for the crew to spread out, and more room for apparatus.”
The new Station 2 is also going up with community safety in mind. Instead of facing to the east, with an entrance and exit on busy 23rd Avenue, the renovated station entrance and exit will be on Reservoir Road.
The station is the second-busiest in the department with over 2,000 calls in 2019. As a department, Greeley handled more than 14,000 calls last year. When Fries joined the department 24 years ago, Greeley fire was handling approximately 5,000 calls a year.
“We have to consider our responses and how they impact the community,” Ellmer said.
The design of the stations are similar and laid out with one side designated for utility use, equipment and storage. The apparatus bays are in the center at both stations, and crews quarters with living spaces, bedrooms and bathrooms are on the other side of the station.
Station 2 will also have an additional attraction: a Greeley Fire Department engine from 1916 in the lobby. The old engine is currently undergoing work in Estes Park and will arrive at the station later this year.
Among the features coming to both stations is a two-story hose-drying tower inside the stations that will allow crews to hoist and dry hoses naturally — without the need to run a heated dryer for the hoses.
In the same area as the built-in hose tower in both stations will be a fitness room, a man hole for crews to use practice rescues and plenty of space for rope work — all without leaving the station to train off site.
“It’s reliability,” Fries said. “We want to stay in our district.”
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