4 years after flood, plans in motion for new fire station

CEDAR RAPIDS - Four years after the historic Floods of 2008, officials on Wednesday broke ground for a new Central Fire Station to replace the one that floodwaters rendered unusable.

The 67,000-square-foot department headquarters and equipment garage will be built at 713 First Ave. SE. Firefighter Steve Mast said he's looking forward to using the facility.

“We've worked out of two satellite locations (since June 2008). One was a beer warehouse and the other a commercial sign company. So it's been less than ideal,” he said. “But we're happy we had those locations.”

Cedar Rapids Fire Chief Mark English said the new site, close to Interstate 380 and First Avenue, should help improve crews' response times.

“We're doing our best to make sure the city doesn't see any difference in delivery, and once we get in here it will be even better,” he said.

Fire crews were some of the busiest rescue personnel during the flood. Mayor Ron Corbett said the department managed 420 boat rescues while the Central Fire Station itself was under water.

An even better tribute to the firefighters, he said, is that “no lives were lost in that great disaster.”

Bids will be opened next week for the project, with the expected $19 million cost being funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state's I-JOBS program. Construction is set to start in July and the facility should open in August 2013.

English said the new fire station will incorporate improvements and lessons learned from earlier headquarters buildings.

For example, the garage housing fire equipment will be built with double doors opening to both the First Avenue side as well as the Second Avenue side. Crews will be able to respond to calls by pulling out onto First Avenue and then circle around to return via Second Avenue. English said the alignment means crews will never have to take time to back into a tight garage space with large, bulky equipment.

Wednesday's ceremony began at 10:15 a.m. - the exact time that the Cedar River river crested at a record 31.12 feet on June 13, 2008.