BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP - The new fire station on the Burlington Bypass is 99 percent complete and fire district officials are ready to start moving equipment into the $5.9 million facility.
The station, which will be completed on budget, needs some finishing touches and should be functional by mid-February, fire district chairman John Stewart said.
Construction began in December 2008 and originally was expected to be finished this month.
"We're pleased with the progress that was made and we're not on the date exactly, but we're pretty darn close," Stewart said. "There's some finishing work. We're waiting for furniture to come in, racks to hold the firefighters' gear, telephone systems, things of that nature."
The district got the go-ahead from inspectors to begin moving in Tuesday.
The new facility will replace the small and outdated Independent Fire Co. station on Rancocas Road and will become the township's main station as well as the home of the fire district offices.
"It will still be called the Independent Fire Co.," Stewart said.
The station is across the street from the Fountain Woods Elementary School on a 5-acre tract rented to the township by the Masonic Home of New Jersey for $1 a year for 75 years.
It will have safety systems and other capabilities that either were unavailable or impossible to install at the 50-year-old Rancocas Road station, which probably will be sold.
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"The most likely scenario is a sale, but obviously, with the real estate market the way it is, it's tough to sell these days," Stewart said. "Once we get into the new station, we'll nail down what we're going to do with the Rancocas Road property."
Besides being bigger and better equipped, the new station has other advantages.
"It's a good location for the school, in the event of any kind of emergency (there). We can bring the kids across the street right into the fire station," Stewart said. "As far as traffic is concerned, there's a traffic light there and we actually will have a button to control the traffic light when fire trucks are leaving the station."
Funding was approved by voters in December 2006; a similar referendum was rejected in July 2006. Voters agreed to allow the fire district to borrow $4.4 million for the project. Contracts totaling $4,795,915 were awarded to several vendors in October.
"Overall I think it went well," Stewart said. "We appreciate the support of the taxpayers of Burlington Township. It's a very long, drawn-out process from the time you start planning until even before you see bricks going up. + But, here at the end, it's a rewarding feeling."
