The Springfield Fire Department broke ground for the new Fire Station 4 Tuesday, April 27 at 2423 N. Delaware.
Fire Station 4 is located on the boundary of the Doling and Robberson neighborhoods. The old station was demolished March 26 to make way for the rebuilt station, which will be operational in about a year. The old station, which was built in 1968, had long exceeded its usefulness.
“We look forward to replacing this station with a modern facility and equipment,” said Fire Chief David Pennington.
Funding for the new station, which will cost $2,971,016, will be provided by the voter-approved Level Property Tax, which was renewed by Springfield voters in 2017.
“We are keeping our promise to Springfield voters,” Pennington said.
The tax, which generates about $8.5 million per year, will also fund the replacement of Fire Station 7, which was built in 1958 at 2129 E. Sunshine, and two new stations: Fire Station 13 in the 1900 block of West College in the West Central neighborhood and Fire Station 14 at the northeast corner of West Chestnut Expressway and North Duke Avenue.
Construction for station 13 will begin this summer and will be complete by summer 2022. Demolition and construction for station 7 will begin in spring 2022 and be operational by 2023. Full design services, bidding and construction for station 14 is planned for construction as part of the 2026 bond package made possible by the Level Property Tax.
“I am very excited about building two new fire stations in underserved areas of Springfield, both of which have high fire risk,” said Pennington. “These new stations will reduce the amount of travel time for our fire crews to reach emergencies in these areas.”