The new station for the Pleasant View Fire Department is ready for use.
The facility is located on a 5-acre parcel at 15235 County Road CC, across the street from Pleasant View Elementary School. The new, larger site will better serve the community and the district, said Katrina Baumgartner, administrative lieutenant for the department.
“It’s just much-improved,” she said. “When we were planning it, we were planning for the next 50 years.”
The idea to build a new station has been considered for more than 10 years, she said.
The old station – located along County Road CC just east of U.S. Highway 491 – was originally built in the early 1960s, and was in need of a variety of facility upgrades. However, the station was situated on only 0.41 of an acre and landlocked, making renovations difficult and inadequate, Baumgartner said.
“Our original firehouse has been added onto several different times, and we were landlocked,” she said. “We weren’t able to expand any more.”
In fall of 2018, the department was awarded a grant of almost $1.5 million from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to complete the project, and shortly after that, the department awarded a contract to Weeminuche Construction Authority for the new facility’s construction. Work began in November 2018, but had to pause until April 2019 because of heavy winter snowfall.
The department is still tabulating the project’s final cost, Baumgartner said, but the department had been saving money to provide matching funds needed for the grant and to complete the project. No loans were taken out for the project.
The new station was finished late last year, with the department beginning the move-in process Dec. 1.
The station includes six truck bays (including one indoor wash bay), training room, offices, storage for both fire and Emergency Medical Services equipment and supplies, two-story training facilities, a secured fuel station, maintenance and service areas, and a community meeting room with a kitchen.
The bathrooms are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the new site has room to grow.
“Now we’re on 5 acres so instead of using the county’s land and other people’s property, we’re actually able to do training on our own property,” Baumgartner said. The two-story building will also be able to better house the department’s storage equipment, and the larger community room can better serve locals who want to use it. It’s also separate from the firehouse portion of the building, which prevents liability issues, she said.
Elementary students from the school across the street have already visited the new site, she said.
“They got to tour the facility before anyone else,” Baumgartner said.
The previous facility has been sold to Montezuma County.
An open house to tour the new facility will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Jan. 11. Light refreshments will be served.
ealvero @the-journal.com
