Millersville will have a new, larger fire station by Aug. 1.
A ground-breaking ceremony was held Wednesday, Feb. 3, to officially begin construction. Tossing shovelfuls of dirt were representatives from Zoellner Construction, board members of the Millersville Rural Fire Protection District and Fire Chief Ray Warner.
Voters in the fire district approved a $900,000 bond issue June 2, 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the April 7 election to June. Voters had previously turned down the bond issue request in November 2019.
The new station will replace Millersville’a Fire Station 1, which was built in 1977. The 44-year-old current building has just three bays and is now too small for today’s fire trucks. The new station will have four larger bays which will be able to house today’s larger trucks along with all of their emergency equipment.
The current building is also deteriorating and is in need of costly repairs. It was deemed to be more cost-effective to build a new station than to repair the current one.
The new station is being constructed at the intersection of Market Street and County Road 482, just up the hill a short distance from the current station.
In addition to being larger, the new structure will be more sound. It will be built as a “Type IV Essential Facility” — able to withstand natural disasters.
Dille Pollard Architecture, a commercial architecture firm in Poplar Bluff and Cape Girardeau, is the architect for the project. Strickland Engineering of Jackson is the civil, mechanical and electrical engineer. Case Engineering of Fenton is the structural engineer. Financing is provided by First State Community Bank in Jackson.
