A new firehouse opened on April 24 in St. Peters, Missouri, and sources say it will be beneficial to thousands of residents.
The new station was paid for by a tax increase put in place in 2009. The move makes it possible for firefighters to serve an area in which the population has been increasing, with the new Central County Fire Station #2 now located at 109 McMenamy Road.
In addition, the area has a number of elderly residents, and most, including Dotty Frier, are happy to have the station close by. Frier, who is 86 and spoke to KSDK.com following the opening, occasionally need assistances. Recently, she asked firefighters to help her replace the batteries in her smoke detectors, since she was not feeling steady on her ladder. Three firefighters helped her, and she described them as “just so nice”.
The reason for moving the station is simply to improve response times. Russ Mason, St. Peters' Fire Chief, noted that most of the calls were coming from across the interstate, and it took a long time to get to the emergency. By moving to the area in which the population has increased, response times are likely to decrease to about four minutes or less.
Firefighters could work with professional banner printers to create flags to help celebrate the station's opening.
