BIGFORK — It was a special night in Bigfork as the fire department officially broke ground on their new fire station on Chapman Hill Road.
The new station will more than double the size of the current fire station, which was built in 1980, helping Bigfork keep up with continued growth.
Last September, Bigfork voters approved a bond, and a mill levy totaling $15 million to build a new fire station and increase fire and EMS staff.
“This building is over twice as big as the previous station,” said Bigfork Fire Chief Jeremy Patton.
Patton said the main floor of the new fire station will be just over 20,000 square feet with an additional 4,000 square feet for storage.
He said the new station will have built in living quarters for staff, a community room, and additional parking space for emergency vehicles.
“It will solve many problems, including better response for the community,” added Patton.
In July, Bigfork Fire received 187 emergency calls, their busiest month on record.
Since the mill levy passed, the fire station has already hired five additional staff to keep up with emergency demand.
Bigfork Fire Public Information Officer Allen Benitez said the fire department has also increased training.
“We’ve increased our training, we’ve added swiftwater rescue, we’ve added rope rescue, we’ve enhanced our medical staffing, 80% of our calls are medically related in one way or another, we take over a 1,000 people to the hospital every year,” said Benitez
Construction of the new fire station is expected to finish by next fall.
“And bring the community a world-class facility that will serve them for at least the next 50 years,” added Benitez.
