Fire District 4’s station on Maple Avenue is not closing — not in mid-September, anyway.
The question arose, though, after a video excerpt from a city tour at the station Wednesday, Aug. 7 posted to Facebook by fire commission candidate Evan Merritt’s campaign spread locally. Fire District 4 posted a response to the video and commentary on Friday, Aug. 9.
In an interview after the meeting, city administrator Steve Schuller clarified a comment at the end of the video, when he said “the closing is scheduled for mid-September,” which raised some eyebrows. The city co-owns this station and other properties jointly with the fire district, and is engaged in a land exchange with the fire district to potentially buy the Maple Avenue station. Schuller said the “closing” he was referring to was the close of the due diligence phase of the process, not on closing the station.
Fire District 4 Chief Ron Simmons affirmed the same in an interview.
“We’re not closing” the station in September, the chief said.