August 6, 2007 - City to Break Ground on New Fire Station

New Station 22 part of Fire Department’s Master Relocation plan

The city will break ground tomorrow morning on a new fire station for the rapidly growing area of southeast Shreveport. The new fire station will be the 22^nd for the city with completion of the project slated for March of ‘08. The following are the logistics for the ground breaking ceremony:

What: Ground Breaking Ceremony for Fire Station #22
Where: 2022 Southern Loop (between Norris Ferry and Wallace Lake Rd.) When: Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Time: 10:00 a.m.

The new 11,000 square foot fire station will service the areas of Ellerbe Road, Long Lake, Southern Trace, eastern Southern Hills, and other surrounding communities. The station will have three vehicle bays for housing emergency equipment. Initially there will be one fire engine assigned to the station but the fire department could later add a ladder truck and a medic unit if emergency call volume indicates the need. The station is being built from funds dedicated in the 2001 Bond Election and will cost $1.9 million. M&M Builders of Shreveport will be the contractor. Land for the project was donated by the Provenance Development Company.

Scheduled to be present for tomorrow’s ceremony include Mayor Cedric Glover, CEO Tom Dark, Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, City Council members, M&M Builders, Provenance Development Company, and other dignitaries. Additionally members of the previous administration under former Mayor Keith Hightower have also been invited.

The new fire station is the third edition as part of the Fire Department’s Relocation Master Plan. In 2004, the Dallas W. Greene Central Fire Station on North Common Street and Station 13 at Pines and 70^th were relocated. The plan still has five remaining stations to be relocated or built as new: Station 17 (Southland Park) relocation to Bert Kouns and Kingston; Station 23 (new station at Dean Road and Bert Kouns); Station 2 (N. Market) to MLK and N. Market; Station 14 (Greenwood) relocation to Greenwood and Broadway; and Station 15 (W. 70^th and Despot) relocation to Jewella and W. 70^th. The funding for these remaining projects will require additional bond initiatives by the city as Station 22 represents the last of the 2001 Bond funding for fire stations. ###