PHOTO: Bonner Fire Captain Toby Ballard and his crew of firefighters are justifiably proud of their brand new fire station.
Ballard spoke to KGVO News on Thursday in anticipation of the fire station’s open house coming up on Saturday.
“The old station was built in the 1950’s,” said Chief Ballard. “It was a service station, and at one point it was a restaurant, but it was never intended to be a fire station. I believe we started leasing it as a fire station in the 1960’s and then the district bought it in the 1970’s, so it has been part of the fire district for 50 years.” Ballard said the new $4 million Bonner Fire Station has been a long time coming.
“We have a little more than doubled the size of station going from the old station to the new station,” he said. “We just have more room for staffing and apparatus. Since we are running more calls than ever before, it's been super helpful to have this new space for us.”
A new and much larger fire station means more room for professional firefighters and EMT’s.