BROKEN BOW—Seven years in the making finally results in a building that has enough space to throw a party, which is exactly what happened on Thursday, September 27. Broken Bow Fire and EMS cut the ribbon on the new fire and ambulance station in front of a packed house. Cars filled the parking lot, were parked on the side of the road, and even parked in the grass to get a look at the new building.
Fire and EMS Coordinator Andy Holland said, “The turnout is excellent. We have parking stalls all over out here and I think every parking stall is full, there are people parked in the grass, and in the street.”
The large number of people drove to the new location to get an inside look at the new building that is nearly twice the size of the old fire hall. The new space has helped bring equipment out of storage that the old fire station did not have room for. Alongside having more space, the new station will also store all the emergency vehicles, which was not the case in the old station.
“Before, we had an ambulance in one building and another ambulance in another building, we had fire trucks in two different buildings. Safety wise, its nice have everything in one building, this way we aren’t running across parking lots to get another firetruck and that kind of stuff,” said Holland
While space has been the most obvious change, safety was the number one concern of the new hall. Holland talked about how to gain access to the firetrucks or ambulances you had to turn sideways and carefully slide between the vehicles. He noted that this was a big issue due to the possibility of vehicles leaving while you were standing there. The previous hall also did not have walk-in doors that were accessible from where the parking lot was.
“Before with the other building you had one door and were we parked at there was no outside door so you were walking into the fire hall when the trucks were trying to leave,” said Holland.
The new building now has numerous doors on multiple sides allowing easier and safer access to the vehicles. The new fire hall also features more offices, a large meeting room, and a kitchen allowing the ability to have more efficient meetings.
