Cape to hold open house to discuss fire-station project

Cape Girardeau city staff members will hold a public meeting today to discuss plans for the city’s new fire station.

The meeting will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Osage Centre.

The informal, open-house style meeting will allow residents to learn more about the project, ask questions and provide input, city officials said.

Cape Girardeau’s $3 million fire station will be at 3011 Lexington Ave., adjacent to a residential neighborhood. It will replace an existing fire station on Kurre Lane that served the northwest quadrant of the city since it opened in 1974.

The fire station, one of four in the city, protects a growing number of residential and commercial developments and much of the area along Interstate 55. Firefighters based at that station also respond through a mutual-aid agreement to all potential rescue and extrication incidents in Cape Girardeau County, officials said.

The new station would replace a much smaller Fire Station No. 4, built 42 years ago at 1459 Kurre Lane.

The city has outgrown Fire Station No. 4 and needs a larger station that can accommodate an engine, ladder truck and a support vehicle such as a brush truck, city officials said.

Penzel Construction Co. of Jackson has been chosen to design and build the new fire station.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

1625 N. Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

3011 Lexington Ave., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

1459 Kurre Lane, Cape Girardeau, Mo.