(Watertown) Construction on the new Watertown fire station is progressing on schedule. The facility will replace the city’s current station, which was built in 1964 and is no longer suitable for the fire department’s needs and is not cost effective to renovate. Fire Chief Tanya Reynen says the agency was in dire need of a new building.
“Our building is addition upon addition and when we have our training room down in the basement where our radios aren’t always working very well and then the apparatus bay bends a little bit because the apparatus has gotten so heavy over the generations,” says Reynen. “And then our dorm rooms…we don’t have enough space for all of our employees.”
The new fire station will be built on a 7.6-acre plot of land just off of Church Street. The city purchased land for the station using fund balance money, meaning that no money was borrowed to buy the plot. Reynen says the station will also include a needed training space.
“And we’re going to have a training room that’s available where we can…not only train our own people but also invite the community in for educational sessions or host classes for other departments,” says Reynen.
The project is slated for completion in mid-to-late spring of 2025.
–Photo courtesy of the City of Watertown Facebook page
