DELAND, Fla. — The City of DeLand gave a sneak peek of its new state-of-the-art fire station and administration offices Thursday.
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The new fire station, located at 343 West Howry Avenue, is just down the street from the current location.
The new 16,000-square-foot fire station will house all of the fire department’s administrative offices, two fire companies, and a fire prevention division under one roof.
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Deland Fire Chief Todd Allen said the old fire station, which was originally designed in the late 1960s as a volunteer station, had become too small.
“Station 81 was never built to be a full-service, career fire station, but it has served this community very well for the last half-century”, Allen said.
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He said as the city has grown, so has the need for more fire services with crews at the station responding to an average of over 5,000 calls for service per year.
The city says that once all operations are moved into the new building, the old station will be torn down to make way for a new downtown parking lot.