MERRILL, Wis. (WSAU) – Merrill city council members are looking at options to revamp the city's fire stations.
The committee of the whole got a overview of possible plans from Becher and Hoppe architects last night. Assistant fire chief Steve Hintz says the board really has a number of potions to look over. “There's a number of plans to rebuild the downtown station, or to build an entirely new one.”
City council chair Steve Haas says the city would like to place the fire station on a location with good access to the city. “With the one way streets going east and west, Highway 64 being split, that is a difficult task.”
The other issue with the main downtown station is that it's over 100 years old and isn't doing the job that the fire crews need it to do. Haas says there's plans to renovate, demolish or start over with a new location that could cost over 7 million dollars in total. “This was the first step, and we're going take our time with this and do what's best for the citizens of Merrill.”
The council will be back to discuss the plans at a later date.
Meanwhile Marshfield's fire department is doing well with their new facility. That was built about a year and a half ago and deputy chief Ed Erickson says they couldn't be happier with it. “The new station dealt mainly with a space issue, but did get us closer to a north-south corridor.”
Erickson says the new station is also working to help reduce costs for the city, as it's cheaper to heat and operate. “We're seeing less costs to heat the building now, than the old building which was one third the size.”
As well, the new building was placed outside the center of the city on a major artery, giving fire crews better access, says Erickson. “If you're going north, south, east, or west, a main corridor is very helpful.”
