Jim Russell, building committee chairman of the Orleans fire district knew they were taking on a big task by building a new fire department.
"Neither one of us have ever built anything bigger than a storage shed outback much less than a two point whatever million dollar building," Russell said.
The Wellesley Island Fire Department cut the ribbon on their new building Saturday morning. It replaces the Thousand Island Park's Fire Station which was destroyed in an electrical fire four years ago.
"I just feel relieved, for me, it's been a lot of time and it's something that I really didn't have the experience to do," Russell said.
It cost just more than $2 million to build the department; it took three years to actually acquire the funding and one additional year to construct it.