New Broken Arrow fire station to open next month

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. - The Broken Arrow Fire Department is set to open a new fire station next month to serve the southwestern section of the city.

The $3 million facility positioned on the 5600 block of Aspen and whose construction began nearly a year-and-half ago will be the new Station 2, replacing the current Station 2 located on the 2900 block of Elm Place.

The old station built in 1972 and offering only two bays has become crowded and outdated due to the ever increasing size of pumper trucks, according to Broken Arrow Fire Department Chief Jeff VanDolah.

“We have to have the doors open to walk around the engine,” he told 2NEWS, saying the regularly sized engine barely fits in the garage.

The new station, which officials hope to open Dec. 3, offers nearly four to five times as much space and three bays, the bays together capable of housing five to six fire apparatuses. But that is not what the station will hold, at least for now. It will hold one engine, one ambulance and a brush truck equipped for fighting grass fires.

VanDolah said the station was strategically placed in the southwestern area of Broken Arrow, an area now experiencing rapid growth and also set to host a new 100-acre shopping center with a Warren Theatre, only a mile-and-a-half from the station.

Right now workers are putting finishing touches on the building and furnishing it with computers and radios.

“Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can open it up.”

As far as what will happen with the old station, VanDolah said the department hopes to keep a presence at the station and slate the building for refurbishment.