Cape officials break ground on new fire station

Cape Girardeau officials broke ground Wednesday on construction of a new fire station to replace its oldest station.

The $3 million, 11,000-square-foot, brick structure will be built adjacent to a residential area at 3011 Lexington Ave.

It will replace Fire Station 4, which opened in 1974 on Kurre Lane.

“We have outgrown that station,” fire chief Rick Ennis said after the ceremony.

The current station is staffed with a three-man crew. The new station, which city officials estimate will open next summer, will have the same size crew.

“However, this gives us flexibility in the future to grow and add resources,” Ennis said.

The new station will allow the city to better protect a growing number of commercial and residential developments on the city’s northwest side, as well as respond to incidents in Cape Girardeau County through mutual-aid agreements.

Ennis said the station on Kurre Lane is “cramped” not only with living space for firefighters but in terms of housing firetrucks.

The existing station barely can house two firetrucks. The new station will have three double bays that can handle up to six vehicles.

“It give us space to store reserve and specialized apparatus.”

Ennis said the new station will have space for firefighter training and a fitness area.

Firetrucks will enter the new station from the rear and exit out the front of the bays onto Lexington Avenue when responding to fires.

The fire chief said the new, single-story station is designed to blend with the neighborhood. The brick structure has a porch-like, columned entrance and dormer windows along the front of the roof.

Penzel Construction Co. of Jackson is the contractor on the design-build project. Two architectural firms — FGM Architects and Dille Traxel Architecture — are handling the design work.

Ennis said residents typically have “some concerns” when a fire station is proposed to be built in their neighborhood.

“People have visions of firetrucks screaming in and out of the fire station 24 hours a day, sirens blaring, and speeding up and down the street,” he said.

But Ennis said the city staff received positive comments from residents who live near the Kurre Lane and North Sprigg Street stations.

“They don’t really notice the noise, and they don’t really notice any distractions. They feel safe with the fire station in their neighborhood,” he said.

At the ceremony, Ennis said he looks forward to “building a relationship” with the Lexington Avenue neighborhood.

More than 30 city officials, firefighters and community leaders attended the groundbreaking.

Mayor Harry Rediger credited Cape Girardeau voters for approving the fire sales tax that will fund construction of the fire station and has funded other public safety projects.

“Thank you to all of our citizens who are forward thinking and have a vision, along with the rest of us,” Rediger told those gathered at the ceremony.

The city bought the property in 2006 with a view toward building a fire station there, officials said.

Once the new station opens, the city plans to sell the Kurre Lane building.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

3011 Lexington Ave., Cape Girardeau, Mo