Officials turn out for opening of new fire station

ALBANY — Albany officials gathered Wednesday for the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Fire Station No. 7, located at 2203 Leonard Street in East Albany.

“It is another great day in Albany,” said City Manager Sharon Subadan. “We are excited to celebrate this ribbon cutting and grand opening of Fire Station Seven in this beautiful facility. This is one more project that the Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funded. This again is your 1-cent sales tax hard at work.”

The SPLOST VI project was approved by voters in November 2010.

The Albany Fire Department’s original Fire Station No. 7 was built in the mid-1970’s and has over the years developed severe infrastructure issues. The main issue was foundation settlement that placed the station in need of repair.

According to officials, all options for repair were considered, however, they were deemed only temporary solutions that would need continued evaluation and future repairs.

Fire Chief Ron Rowe thanked the Albany City Commission and citizens for recognizing the dire need for a new facility and the need for a facility in southeast Albany.

Rowe said, “The initial station was built in the mid-1970s to respond to increases in population, which created the need to provide fire service to safeguard the citizens and the majority of Albany’s industry located in East Albany. The old station has infrastructure challenges, and engineering studies concluded the only option was to construct a new station to assure safe and long-term occupancy.”

Construction of the new building began in October of 2015, and crews will move in no later than June 30, Rowe said. The new station will be staffed by 12 employees and two fire trucks, operating 24 hours a day.

“There is a common theme of support here, and it all starts in the community,” Rowe said. “The community has supported us so much, and staff recognizes that. The staff then comes full circle and supports us with the decision to allow this to be one of the projects of the SPLOST referendum. When you do that, and you go inside and see the quality of this station for the employees that are going to be here 24 hours a day, the way that they are going to be able to live shows that we all support them. This puts them in the position where they want to go out and support the community with their service.”

Station No. 7 is one of four stations located in East Albany.

“It seems like it was only yesterday that we were here; I think it was back in November, during the groundbreaking ceremony,” said Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard. “So we are just delighted that everything has come to fruition. It is another great day in Albany, Georgia, and I too want to thank those citizens who voted for SPLOST. This is one of the ways that we are able to do the things that we need to do in our city.”

Ward I Commissioner Jon Howard said, “We will all benefit from this essential, life-sustaining project. Six years is a long time to await the completion of such an important project. However, it was worth the wait.”

The new Station No. 7 is the latest addition to a total of 11 fire stations operating within the city and county and serving more than 94,000 citizens. The old Station 7, located just around the corner at 200 North Mock Road, will remain open until the move into the new station is complete.