Excerpts from illinoishomepage.net:
The Champaign Fire Department is studying whether Station 3 should be moved. It has been on west Bradley avenue for half a century. The chief says that might not be the best place for it anymore.
He says the apparatus bay was designed for trucks as they were 50 years ago. The department had to build an addition on to the back. The crew there is one of the busiest– if not the busiest– engine company in the city.
“When you build a new fire station, you have to think about the future,” says Fire Chief Gary Ludwig.
He says station three is stuck in the past. The crew says it’s easier to work with the truck outside, because when it’s in, they have no room to work out.
“We don’t know what the future holds,” says Ludwig, “We may have to put a ladder in that location. We may have to house an ambulance in that location.”
The department is hiring a consultant to determine where the station should go now. They’ll do that by analyzing five years’ worth of service calls.
Chief Ludwig says right now, they’re looking at four places station three could go.
