The LaSalle Fire Service expects to be able to use its newest fire station by early 2025.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday to kick-off the start of construction of the town's second fire station at 2160 Front Rd.
This was the location of Centennial Arena, which was replaced by the Vollmer Culture and Recreation Complex.
LaSalle Fire Chief Ed Thiessen says the residents should be comforted that they will have the ability to provide quicker response times with this new station.
"Seconds count often and this definitely enhances our response capability to this part of our municipality," he says.
The new fire hall, which will be located on Front Road and Old Front Road, will be a state-of-the-art hall with two bays and two exits onto both roads. Jan. 24, 2023 (Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Town of LaSalle)
Gulf Developments is building the new $9-million site, which will be a two-bay, 14,500 square foot fire hall.
Thiessen says this is something they have been working on for a long time.
"There's really no words to describe how grateful we are as a fire service for this opportunity to really double our service ability," he says. "We've been working on this for awhile and it's really, really exciting to see it all come to fruition."
LaSalle Fire Chief Ed Thiessen says they are a composite department, which means they have full-time firefighters along with paid volunteer firefighters.
"For opening day, we will need to hire an additional seven firefighters. What that will allow us to do is have two full-time firefighters at both locations," he adds.
In March 2020, LaSalle town council approved a three fire station operating model and financial plan which includes the existing headquarters station on Normandy St., a new west station at 2160 Front Rd., and eventually an east station on Laurier Parkway in the area of Disputed Road.
There are several factors that have led to the building of this new station. Areas of predicted future growth within LaSalle in both the short to mid-term and long-term have resulted in the need for greater response capabilities.
In addition, a key factor in the recommendation of additional fire stations is the National Fire Protection Association NFPA 1710 guideline which requires that fire apparatus and four firefighters arrive on-scene within four minutes.
With a three station model, 87% of the Town's urban area will be provided initial coverage within four minutes. This is well above the provincial average for municipalities which is in the range of 72% for urban geography. It is also above the 75% coverage target for municipalities.
With files from Rob Hindi