Construction will soon be underway on a new fire station in Coon Rapids. On Monday, local dignitaries along with City staff members officially broke ground on the project.
"It's a reaffirmation of our commitment to public safety and our fire department and we are just thankful," Mayor Jerry Koch said.
The replacement for Fire Station #3 is being built at the corner of 111th Ave. and Mississippi Blvd. directly across from Anoka-Ramsey Community College.
"In this case, the City owned the land from the previous Cook Arena and it's an ideal site for what we need," Fire Chief John Piper said.
The new station will include a 32,000 square foot building with six drive-thru apparatus bays, administrative offices, a control room and hose tower plus dedicated training space.
"A lot of the training features are built into the building so that training can be conducted day or night, rain or snow, cold or hot," Piper said. "It really allows us to take training to a new level."
The fire station also includes new design standards to reduce station-related illnesses from various chemical, biological and environmental exposures.
"We really put a lot of effort into the firefighters health and safety so there's built in features to make it healthier and safer for the firefighters in the categories such as cancer, cardiac and mental health," Piper said.
Construction is expected to take about a year to complete. Once finished, the roof of the new fire station will be used to launch the 4th of July fireworks.
"If everything goes well, we expect to be in the building (realistically) in June 2023," Piper said.