A comprehensive fire station location study in Lexington is not expected to result in any major changes anytime soon. City council members heard the report during Tuesday’s work session. Public Safety Commissioner Ronnie Bastin says the recommended consolidation of two downtown fire stations would come with some costs. “The merger of the two stations that they mentioned, there’s a cost of having to do an addition onto one of the stations in order to house the equipment from the station that would be closed if that decision were made,” said Bastin.
There were no cost estimates for the fire station facilities examination. Assistant Fire Chief Harold Hoskins says $1 million is being spent this year to address pressing maintenance and upkeep. “I mean we had some fire stations that were difficult to live in," said Hoskins. "As firefighters knowing that we had difficulty getting out of second stories because the exterior stairways may be a little bit rough. So, we're addressing those things in the money we’ve got in this year’s budget.”
Mayor Jim Gray says in his prior position in construction, he was involved in building fire stations. Gray says fire station consolidation and new construction can come in time. “Now what we need to do next is to put a plan together that would identify the renovations or the improvements that should be and can be made and then schedule those in our budgets as we go forward,” said Gray.
Council member Fred Brown says there is a need to move forward on certain facility improvements. He said during a visit to the main fire station on Third Street he saw a lot of existing problems.?
