Owensboro’s Fire Department’s Station 2 recently received a few renovations that will allow firefighters to continue serving the community well for years to come.
Ever since the fire station opened in 1998, the area that it serves has become more and more busy with traffic and medical issues, as the majority of the east side of Owensboro — including the hospital — is under its care. These are among the many reasons why the City chose to help fund the new additions to the station.
“This station alone last year pulled out of those doors to help somebody 1,600 times and it’s going to be more than that this year,” Battalion Chief Steve Leonard recently said. “About 80% of those are for medical reasons, but this is a large district with a lot of different types of occupants.”
To keep up with the growing east side of Owensboro, it was decided that this station would benefit from an additional “company,” or fire vehicle.
“The company we chose to put out here was what we call a quint, which is a combination truck,” Leonard said. “It’s a combination aerial device, and we needed that because we have a lot of life safety issues in this area. It’s fantastic for high rise buildings.”
The station not only received a new company, but also a renovated kitchen and sitting area, more lockers in the garage area, completely new lockers in the bedrooms, a conference room, and updates that make the station more compatible for female firefighters.
“All of the things we added on are so we can keep more personnel out here,” Leonard said. “We can now have up to seven or eight firefighters.”
During renovations firefighters worked out of a temporary station, but they were able to move back into Station 2 last earlier this month.
