By Meredith Canales
San Antonio Express-News
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — With some fire stations getting older, the San Antonio Fire Department is looking foward to much-needed renovations and new facilities in its future.
On the Southside, two fire stations are currently up for expansion or renovations.
Fire Station 50, which deploys from trailer homes at 12703 Applewhite Road near the Toyota complex, is set to receive a permanent structure in the coming months.
“Originally it was part of the annexation which involved Toyota,” said Carl Wedige, assistant fire chief for the San Antonio Fire Department. “It’s going to be about three-quarters of a mile from where it is now.”
Wedige said the total cost of the project currently amounts to $4.1 million.
“Costs change as the project goes along, but that’s a firmer number than we’ve had before,” he said. “A normal station costs a little more than $5 million, but the land was donated by Toyota, which cut the cost.”
Also, said Wedige, the city of San Antonio is receiving much of the cost of the station in stimulus funds. For Fire Stations 50 and 51, the department received roughly $7.3 million, funding that was divided equally between both stations.
Wedige said the funds are normally distributed according to percentages, but since the amount was fixed, the funds were split down the middle.
Wedige said the construction bid will be going to council within the next few weeks, which means that construction should begin in October. It is slated to be completed in November 2011.
In addition to Station 50 getting a new building, Fire Station 21 located at 5537 S. Flores St., is looking at options for housing a ladder truck.
“I’m working on allocating some funds for (that station),” said District 3 City Councilwoman Jennifer Ramos.
“It’s located at Pleasanton Street and Southcross. We’re trying to prepare ourselves for a future bond, but we’re hoping to get about $300,000 in this year’s budget to work on some short-term solutions to make sure the ladder truck stays there.”
Ramos said that because the fire station is older and ladder trucks are bigger than what they used to be, Station 21 did not have the ability to house a larger ladder truck.
Currently, the truck is being housed at Station 22 at night.
“We’ve got a consultant looking at the feasibility of a temporary structure to house the truck,” said Wedige.
Copyright 2010 San Antonio Express-News