KAGAWONG—Billings township council and staff members celebrated the official ribbon cutting ceremony for the new fire hall along with members of the local fire department last week.
“It is a very nice building and I am very happy with the outcome of the new firehall and that the previous council decided to approve the construction of the new fire hall on the same location as the previous one,” said Martin Connell, Billings township fire chief at the ribbon cutting. “We now have a brand-new building that will last a long time.”
Mr. Connell explained the new fire hall is the same size as the previous building and has two bays. Among the buildings new features is a “22 kilowatt standby generator, which is important as this building is an emergency evacuation centre for the township. And the LED lighting is very impressive and illuminates the building quite nicely.”
As had been previously reported, the previous Billings council approved extensive renovation work to the previous building, however while work had started it had to be suspended and condemned by contractors as the foundation on the south wall of the building was found to have been compromised, with the wall having shifted noticeably from its original alignment. After deliberation council decided to have a new firehall constructed on the same location.
“Finally, the finishing touches have been put on our new firehall,” stated Billings Mayor Bryan Barker. “It has been a long process. We’d like to thank the community, staff and council for all of their patience in the time it has taken and the challenges faced by council and staff to get to this point.”
“We now have a safe and practical space for our volunteer firefighters to work out of and the building should last for many years to come,” said Mayor Barker.
Volunteer firefighter Bill Orford said, “this is a sound, very functional building,” noting the fire department has occupied the building for less than a year.
“The old fire hall was not well lit and did not have sufficient power in a hydro outage,” said Fire Chief Connell. “Responding to a fire call was dangerous because there was no light in the building when hydro was out. Now when there is a power outage the building is lit up inside and outside.”
Mayor Barker noted, “there is room for expansion of the building in the future should it be required, but at this time the space is adequate.”
The Billings fire department is holding a grand opening for the public on Halloween night with a barbecue from 4-9 pm that day.
