Edwardsville has big plans for new fire station at SIUE

A new Edwardsville city fire station is almost ready at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, while bids are rolling in on its parent station planned for downtown.

The SIUE station is in the later stages of construction, according to Edwardsville Fire Chief Rick Welle. Exterior walls are in place and interior walls are framed, with work continuing daily at the site just off the main loop in the central campus.

Intended as a satellite station, the SIUE fire station will be primarily dedicated to the college campus and the warehouse distribution district in west Edwardsville near Interstate 255. The $3.8 million, 8,300-square-foot station is intended to improve response times and bolster service to the growing western side of the city. The land, located next to the Early Childhood Center, has been promised to the city since 1995.

Initially, the station will have one engine, one truck and one ambulance, with a staff of two to four people, Welle said. “We’re still building up our staffing,” he said.

One extra feature of the new fire station is a “safe haven.” The west side of the station will have a small lobby open 24 hours a day with an emergency phone, and anyone who is in trouble or needs help can get immediate help from the paramedics on staff.

“We want students or anyone else to know they can stop in and seek help if necessary,” Welle said.

City Manager Tim Harr said they anticipate opening the station in September.

Meanwhile, progress on the new public safety building downtown has been delayed for some months on the drawing board. The combined police and fire station is intended to replace the current public safety building and is located on the property of the old Madison County Sheltered Care Home, near the new Leon Corlew Park with the popular new “splash-n-play” water attraction, which opened a few weeks ago.

Welle said some of the delay was caused by adding 10,000 square feet of basement, as well as discussions with the Edwardsville Township to potentially share the building. In the end, the township opted not to join them, and the designs were put out to bid a few weeks ago after a meeting with prequalified contractors.

“We’re on track now, and we’re looking to award that bid (in August),” Welle said.

The cost will depend on bids, but Welle said they expect the final cost of the new station to be $12.5 million to $14.5 million. “We don’t think the (cost of) building materials will have changed a lot, but the process has been going on for a few years and we will have to adjust accordingly,” he said.

The bids were scheduled to be opened this week, Harr said.

This story was originally published August 6, 2016 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Edwardsville has big plans for new fire station at SIUE."