Carson City had a groundbreaking for their newest fire station on Monday.
It is the first one being built in over 50 years. They hope in about 12 to 15 months they'll be back for a ribbon cutting for the finished fire station.
“We are in the process now of improving emergency services to the east side of town, but not only in this immediate area, but also provide reinforcements for the rest of the city and free up the existing stations that respond in this territory right now,” Sean Slamon, the Carson City Fire Chief, said after the groundbreaking ceremony.
Slamon also said having an extra fire station will help with response times significantly, cutting them down to four minutes within this area.
They know saving time also saves lives.
He also said having this extra fire station is helpful for firefighters' moral, knowing that additional help is coming to their area.
“We all swore an oath to protect our city and put our lives on the line to do that and this is going to help us do that even better," said Slamon.
He said they're always trying to provide the best emergency services, and this is a great step in the right direction being their fourth fire station in the area.
They say this fire station was an idea brought up in the year 2000, and having the building being built in 2024 is extremely exciting.
“I know there has been a lot of work done prior to get to this point and the fact that the timing was right, and the need was absolutely justified so we’re extremely excited to be a part of this," Slamon explained.
Lori Bagwell, the Mayor of Carson City, added “We knew 24 years ago that we needed to do this facility. So here we are, 24 years later, finally going to move some dirt today.”
Mayor Bagwell said they used about $2.6 million from their general fund and received direct funding from Congressmen Mark Amodei, Senator Jacky Rosen and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto who helped them secure $2 million as a direct appropriation. They also received $4.6 million from the Federal ARPA, $75,000 from developers on a nearby project and a bond of $8.6 million.
Bagwell said, “One of the things that’s so costly when you do any project is land. Carson City already owned this land, and this was the geographic area that was not receiving the 4 minute response time. So that’s the first thing we did is look at the area and say, where is it that we need to improve services?”
