New Bois D’Arc Fire Station going up just east of Bois D’Arc Elementary

April completion expected for 7,200 square foot facility
 
Construction has begun on the new fire station for the Bois D’Arc Fire Protection District, and is slated to be completed sometime this spring. The new fire station is being built just east of Bois D’Arc Elementary.
“We’re hoping to have everything closed in the next 30 days … and then we start working on the interior, getting that done,” said Parish Witt, president of the Bois D’Arc Fire Protection District’s Board of Directors. “My projected date (for completion) is … somewhere in April.”
The new fire station will be 7,200 square feet in size, and Witt said it will have features not found in the old building.
“It has five bays, and then it will have a dayroom for our people,” he said. “It will have two offices, and then it will have a classroom/community room in it also. We can hold classes; we can have meetings.”
Witt said people would also be able to rent the facility for special events.
“We’re looking at doing something like that for our community, where people can utilize the room if they need the space and have a get together, something like that,” he said. “The community is paying for this; we feel that the community should have access, also.”
Witt said with the new building, the fire protection district will be able to purchase slightly larger fire trucks, which will actually save them money.
“Our big issue that we have right now with our current station is that we are completely out of room,” he said, “and we don’t have space any longer, and also we’re limited on the types and size of trucks that we can buy for our fleet due to the width of our building. And so, what’s happened over the years is that, we’ve had to pay more money for less of a truck because of our size limitations. We’re in competition with every other little fire protection district within the country that are limited on their size, and so the smaller framed trucks actually cost us more than a little bit bigger truck would cost us.”
The new fire station’s classroom will also allow for more training opportunities.
“Currently, we have a training room in a training facility in our number two station, but we’re also going to be able to have training … here, and we host trainings throughout the county,” Witt said. “We have a system where all of the districts in Greene County are interconnected, and we can host a class, and guys at Ebenezer can sit in and watch over at their … monitors. They can watch our class and interact with us at the same time. This just gives us another location for that.”
The new fire station is expected to cost about $350,000 and is being paid for with a 12-cent tax levy increase approved by voters on April 2, 2019. Witt said the fire protection district appreciates their support.
“I just want to thank the community for supporting us and voting to do this for the community,” Witt said, adding that the vote to “raise their tax levy a little bit is giving them a lot of return.”
As for the old fire station, it will be sold once the new one is complete. Witt said an appraiser will be hired to assess its value.
“Hopefully, a business will want to come in and utilize the building,” he said.