Owensboro Fire Department is attempting to find a solution to remain near Cravens Avenue when renovations begin to Fire Station 3. Fire Chief James Howard said the west end has the highest demand of calls among the fire station divisions, so keeping an active fire crew in that district is important.
“It is a neighborhood station and we are really averse to the idea of taking them out of that neighborhood if we don’t have to,” he said.
Howard said when renovating Fire Station 2, they were faced with the similar issue of either leaving the building during the renovation or staying and being in the way of contractors. They ended up leasing a location that allowed OFD to still take calls and respond in an effective manner.
Howard said OFD is currently looking at locations in the area of Fire Station 3 to provide them the same opportunity.
“We’ve explored some options out towards Warehouse Road, which takes them too far away from kind of the nucleus where they’re used to running from. We have explored City facilities, and we’re fortunate to have some City facilities on that on that side of town,” he said.
Howard said they are finalizing their plans, but he said they will make sure to run the fire trucks out of a location that’s close enough that it won’t affect response times.
Renovations at the First Station 3 have not begun. According to the most recent City Projects list, officials are still working on a conceptual layout. They will work on geotechnical work and schematic designs for the next 6 months.
The estimated renovation completion is February 2025.
