Crews today (14th January) moved into Stone’s new £3 million community fire station.
The state-of-the-art facility has replaced the outdated base on The Fillybooks which was built in 1975. It has been designed to enable firefighters to respond more efficiently and effectively to 21st century emergencies.
Facilities within the building have also been created specifically with the community in mind and for the use of residents. Groups and organisations will be encouraged to hold their meetings in specially designated community rooms, creating a hub which will allow greater contact between local people and firefighters who serve the area. Bookings for the community rooms will be taken following post-completion works at the site.
Station manager at Stone Dave Steele said: “The new community fire station at Stone has been designed to enable us to provide a modern fire and rescue service that is fit to meet the needs of the 21st Century.
“Our role has progressed to being far greater than extinguishing fires, there is a strong focus on preventing blazes with an emphasis on working with our communities so they are armed with the information they need to protect themselves and their families. We are looking forward to interacting with local groups who want to use our community rooms to learn about fire safety in the home and on the roads. We are keen to spread our message to as many organisations as possible so that the people of Stone and surrounding areas are even safer.”
Stone Community Fire Station is the fourth facility to be operational in phase two of a major upgrade of buildings across the county with Chase Terrace, Kinver and Longton already live. In total, 10 community fire stations will be rebuilt on their current sites plus a brand new station at Loggerheads which will replace the 45-year-old station at Ashley.
The first phase saw three additional stations developed and seven stations replaced between October 2009 and September 2011.The Service will have invested a total of £90 million, funded through a Private Finance Initiative, on improving the stations when the project has been completed.
