(La Porte, IN)  - It seems like the stars lined up for construction of a sorely needed new fire station in La Porte.  Fire Chief Andy Snyder said the $1.7 million facility at 710 Daytona St. was largely made possible when the cost, thanks to creative engineering, was slashed by more than half the original estimate.

 

He said the new fire station, built mostly from steel, sits on a four acre parcel the Indiana Department of Transportation donated to the city in 2008.  INDOT abandoned the site when moving its La Porte District headquarters to the southern edge of the city at 315 E. Boyd Boulevard.

 

Also helping make this project possible was the $375,000 a developer recently paid to tear down the old fire station on the city’s east side and replace it with a Popeye’s restaurant.  “All of these things together solidified that we have a win, win situation,” Snyder said.

 

The fire station, which was recently put into service, was dedicated Thursday when Snyder along with Mayor Tom Dermody and former Mayor Mark Krentz helped unscrew two hoses stretched in front of the building.

 

Snyder said the new, twice as large fire station, has practically everything the old facility along Indiana 2 did not have like an exercise room and the department’s first ever training facility.  Other features include a gear room for firefighters returning from a call to decontaminate without tracking potential toxins into other parts of the building. 

 

Snyder said there’s also room outside and in the rafters above the four bays to accommodate his plans for adding more training equipment.  “When we talk about training so that our firefighters are prepared for anything that comes their way this is the building to do that,” said LaP orte mayor Tom Dermody.

 

Fire trucks also don’t have to pull forward into a busy intersection then back into their bays like they did at the old station on a less than half acre parcel.

 

Snyder said the move was a long time coming from a station only halfway completed due to cost when constructed in 1966.  “We’re happy to be in here and we’re looking to serve the community,” he said.