(Seguin) – Seguin’s Fire Chief is personally inviting residents to tour the new and improved Central Fire Station.
After undergoing a major renovation over the past eight months, Seguin firefighters will soon be moving back into the newly renovated Central Fire Station. A public re-dedication ceremony and tour will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the fire house located at 110 Elm St.
Seguin Fire Chief Dale Skinner says the public can enjoy a full tour of the station before it is handed over to the fire fighters. He says the project includes a complete makeover of the first floor and a total remodel of second floor living quarters,
“It will give them an opportunity to No. 1 meet with the firefighters, see the living quarters that they live in and learn a little bit about the history, and it will be a little hard to imagine what it once was before the remodel but to see where their tax dollars went in the remodel,” said Skinner.
Skinner says the fire department did its best to make much-needed updates while preserving the history of the structure.
“The fire station was originally built in 1947 and then it was finished in 1949 and it has only undergone two of what we would consider major renovations since that time – once in the late 80s and then once again in I believe it was 2004 and this renovation is the most extensive renovation to date,” said Skinner.
Although the city is home to multiple fire houses, Skinner says Central Fire Station is the most known and recognized.
“It a very significant building. They call it Central because it is centrally located in town. It does protect the downtown historic area as well as the surrounding historical community and homes,” said Skinner.
While every renovated inch was vital to the continued operation of the fire house, Skinner says for him, it was the updates to the living quarters that were most important.
“It’s just going to be a lot more inviting, a lot more functional is what it’s going to be. We demolished almost everything that was there before we updated the wiring, the plumbing – we even moved the kitchen, so it’s got a full commercial kitchen now. We’ve added some additional bunk rooms and probably the biggest and what I’m most happy about is we’ve added six restroom pods so all of the people assigned to that station can decontaminate after a fire without them having to wait their turn to use the shower and that’s probably the biggest thing that I’m most proud of,” said Skinner.
Skinner says he applauds the efforts of both TSG Architects and the Koehler Company for completing the $2.4 million renovation project.