MONUMENT, Colo. (KOAA) — The Monument Fire District is making a big move to off-set fire risk and improve response times for emergencies.
A fire truck responding to a call during a ground-breaking illustrated the decision behind the location of the new firehouse. The fire district's current Fire Station 3 is outdated and inadequate.
Instead of rebuilding at the current location just north of the 2nd Street exit, the improved building will be along Jackson Creek Parkway near the Tri-Lakes YMCA.
The new firehouse will also be across the street from Lewis-Palmer High School in an area where there's been a lot of development and continuing growth.
"We've identified that this corridor is one of our highest volume call volume areas that we respond to, and so, we felt like it was important to make sure that the station, when we relocated, it was at the most prime position we could put it at," said Jamey Bumgarner, a Division Chief with the Monument Fire District.
The goal is to have the building complete in about a year. The $17 million building is possible because of a voter approved mill levy back in 2017.
The Monument Fire District now responds to more than 4,000 calls a year. Because of the growth, those calls are going up between 10% to 20% a year.
Another fire station is already in the works with a deal being negotiated to buy land west of I-25 just south of Baptist Road.
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