Fire Chief Kenneth King expected resistance from neighbors to the construction a new fire station behind Sunrise Shopping Center in south Casper.
He expected complaints about the noise that would come with proximity to the station.
But all the neighbors wanted was that the roof be painted something other than bright red.
Wright Brothers Building Company, a Sheridan contractor, broke ground on Fire Station No. 2 in May 2013. Weather has pushed back the construction completion date until sometime next month.
Then, the fire department has to wait for fiber optic cables to be moved from the old station to the new facility, because purchasing new cables is prohibitively expensive, King said. That’s scheduled to be completed by July 7.
A Charter spokesman said the company realizes the importance of the project and will move as quickly as possible once construction is complete.
Although progress is slower than King had hoped, he said the project is still in line with its $2.7 million budget.
When they do finally move in, station firefighters will have more space and better amenities and will be in a better position to respond to calls in their area.
“With the new theater and the new high school (in west Casper) and all that going in, it’s a tough response time from Paradise Valley or (the old) station 2,” King said. “This will make things much faster for that growing area of town.”
Station 2 shouldered 1,118 calls in 2013, about 17 percent of the total volume, according to King. The new location was determined by a computer model designed to place the station so that its engines could reach any house in the district within four minutes of wheels rolling.
King also hopes to partner with Wyoming Medical Center to improve their response times by leasing one of the station bays for a hospital ambulance.
The Casper Fire Department tracks its response times based on when it receives a call. The average is 4 minutes 53 seconds. Station 2 is at 5 minutes 15 seconds right now.
In each of the five bedrooms of the new station, there will be a wall device that can be set to gently wake firefighters and instantly let them know the type of emergency and the address.
The station can also be used as an evacuation center thanks to its extra space, upgraded kitchen and generator, which is capable of keeping the building running for weeks, King said.
The fire department saved on design costs by using Fire Station No. 3, built in 2011, as a blueprint.
“We learned some lessons. There are 50 small things you’d never notice that we did differently here, but it will make this station 50 times better,” King said.
He expects to carry those lessons forward as he eyes rebuilding efforts at Station Nos. 5 and 6 in the coming years. All the city’s stations are 35 to 50 years old except the newly built Station No. 3, King said.
King said the fire department is in talks to lease the old Station 2 to the Casper College fire science program to help train future firefighters.
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