The Fontaine Avenue Fire Station in Charlottesville will be the first fire station built in the city since 1961, and it's promising to be packed with lots of high tech features.
Charlottesville Battalion Chief David Hartman is the project manager for the Fontaine Avenue Fire Station. He says construction crews are hard at work building walls and pouring concrete for the $14 million facility.
"There is a tremendous amount of excitement within the department and actually, we believe as we talk to a lot of citizens and people, throughout the city," Battalion Chief Hartman said.
Firefighters will respond to emergencies from the new fire station and they'll be able to train for them too.
"In the past we have to leave the city to go train," Battalion Chief Hartman said.
They'll be able to practice vertical rescues with ropes and crawl through tunnels to understand what it's like to save someone trapped in a confined space.
"This facility will have an Emergency Operations Center in the building that will house the fire department for command, control, and recovery for the citizens in the community. We don't have that capability right now," said Battalion Chief Hartman.
Perhaps the most meaningful aspect of the new fire station will be a memorial to the 9/11 attacks. Hanging in the main lobby will be a 17 foot long, 4,000 pound piece of steel from the World Trade Center.
Battalion Chief Hartman says building the 40,000 square foot facility on 1.2 acres wasn't easy.
"So there's an underground garage that basically will hold 32 vehicles, and the fire trucks are above the garage on this level," Battalion Chief Hartman said.
The fire station will also have a workout room, kitchen, and be able to sleep 20 people.
Construction crews broke ground last November, and the fire station could be fully operational by next July.
