NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Progress continues on the new Hutchinson fire station on the Kansas State Fairgrounds at 23rd and Main.
"If you go drive by there, they are pouring all the footings around the edge," Beer said. "As of last week, with the seven inches of rain that we did have, we're really on track for the most part. They continue to pour the footings. Once they get that done, my understanding is, they'll pour some flatwork in the apparatus floor and then we'll be going vertical. There will be a lot of changes here in the next month or so."
Beer believes the progress is something you can feel, even as you drive by.
"A lot of progress is being made," Beer said. "It's just neat to be up there and see the construction. There is the excitement. Everybody that I've talked to, from the State Fair people to people just standing and looking, asking questions and stuff like that, there's an excitement for. I think it will be a great thing. It's going to change the service level of this city, going forward."
Once the new building is finished, the fire department will be better able to deploy the trucks it has.
"We're bringing Truck 4 from 11th and Halstead," Beer said. "That's going to turn into a single engine station and we're going to bring the truck, we'll have Engine 1 up there, along with a Batallion Chief. That will be our hazmat station. For calls for service, the 20th and Main Street station is our busiest station in the city. Many times when we have the secondary calls going out, we're bringing Engine 5 or Engine 6 in to take those secondary calls. By having a truck company up there right away, we'll be able to get on those calls much faster than having the companies drive across town to take the secondary calls."
The hope is to have everything finished a little less than a year from now.