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The event celebrates the completion of a multi-million dollar effort to modernize Kettering’s fire stations. The stations were constructed without requesting additional financial support from taxpayers, according to Mayor Don Patterson.
“We are remarkably grateful to the residents and key stakeholders who worked with our staff to develop a design that reflects the character and standards of our community for all four of our new fire stations, ” Patterson said.
Patterson said the project shows the city’s commitment to innovation and service to the community.
“Kettering prides itself on innovation and an exceptional level of service to our community,” Patterson said. “Our four new state-of-the-art fire stations place our fire department at the cutting edge of emergency response, allowing us to efficiently respond to nearly 9,000 calls for service we receive each year.”
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On March 15, 2016, Kettering celebrated the first ribbon cutting for Station 32 on Far Hills Avenue. On September 29, 2016, the city held a ceremony for Station 36 and Fire Department Headquarters on Hempstead Station Drive. And on December 28, 2017, the city had a grand opening for Station 34 on Woodman Drive.
With an average age of 42 years, Kettering’s previous fire stations lacked the physical space or available land to allow for the improvements necessary to upgrade to current standards. Existing stations were undersized for modern apparatus, devoid of mixed-gender facilities for 24/7 operations and did not meet ADA standards.
City Manager Mark Schwieterman said the public safety and fire departments have been working on a fire station modernization plan for more than a decade.
“We started in the 2007-08 time frame, and over the last several years we’ve been completing the plan of building new fire stations,” he said.
The estimated cost for the project also includes some upgrades to the fire department’s training facility, which is located on Dorothy Lane and Bobby Place.
“In total, the fire department project is roughly $30 million for those new stations and the equipment,” Schwieterman said.
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