The men and women of St. Tammany Fire Protection District No. 1 finally are located in their new headquarters nearly 30 months after construction began on the building on Robert Boulevard in north Slidell.
But for Fire Chief Chris Kaufmann, it seemed like much longer, because the headquarters the district had occupied since Hurricane Katrina hit in August, 2005, was supposed to be a temporary home.
Fire District 1 personnel moved into the new Robert Boulevard headquarters on Nov. 13. A grand opening ceremony and ribbon cutting is scheduled for Dec. 7 from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. “This has been a very long time coming,” Kaufmann said from his second-story office located in the gleaming new building situated across from the Slidell branch of the St. Tammany Parish Library.