Staff move around items at the Coaldale Fire Hall as Phase 1 wraps up. (Supplied by Coaldale & District Emergency Services)

By David Opinko

Phase 1 of Coaldale fire hall expansion complete

Feb 14, 2020 | 12:17 PM

COALDALE, AB – Firefighters in Coaldale now have a bigger and more modern space to work, but it will still be a few months before everything is complete.

Fire Chief Kevin McKeown says they have finished Phase 1 of the Firehall Renovation and Expansion Project, which mainly consisted of an expansion to the existing building.

“We built all-new fire bays out to the east side, so all of our fire apparatus’ are going to be transferring over to the new addition and be operated out of that. Also, we put in a second floor, which is going to house the new Emergency Operations Centre for the Town of Coaldale and a new front entry.”

Town council approved the project in September 2018 with the groundbreaking ceremony taking place that December.

Phase 1 was originally set to be finished by May 2019, but McKeown says they were delayed by bad weather.

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The budget has increased from the original $3.3-million to what the fire chief says is an estimated $4-million.

Phase 2 is about to begin, which will see most of the old bays being converted into office space for firefighters and the town’s Community Peace Officers.

There will also be a large training room, bedrooms for future use, additional meeting space, and a kitchen and breakroom.

McKeown believes this work has been needed for a long time now.

When Coaldale’s fire hall was first built in 1965, the town had a population of 2,592. As of the 2016 census, the community was home to 8,153 people.

The last renovations, a small addition, was done in 1986 when there were 4,853 residents.

“With the tremendous growth of the town and the increasing call volume that we were consistently responding to – it seems to go up every year – we needed a bigger space.”

Phase 2 should be completed by the end of summer 2020.