On July 5th, Washington Township Officials broke ground at the site of the new Fire Station 41. The new station will be located on Franklin Street adjacent to Centerville High School. It will replace the existing station currently located on Maple Avenue. The current station is the community’s oldest fire station, built in 1969. At that time, apparatus was significantly smaller, and the department was comprised mostly of volunteers who responded from their homes. Today, as call volumes have increased, staffing has evolved and is now predominantly full-time with some part-time firefighters and our stations are staffed 24 hours a day.
When the process began of looking for land to purchase for a new station, the township analyzed response time data to determine the best location. Data indicated the need to move Station 41 slightly to the east. The new location on Franklin Street will provide enough land to build a properly sized station that meets the needs of adequate staffing and modern fire and EMS apparatus. The new location provides direct access to a main thoroughfare, allowing the department to offer even more efficient service to our community resulting in improved response times. The new station will have 4 bays, a training mezzanine for crews to train among other modern features.
This land purchase would not have been possible without the strong support of Centerville City Schools. The township is very grateful for their partnership on the purchase of this land. “Over the years, the township has had a wonderful relationship with the schools, they are used to being neighbors at the existing location and look forward to the continuation of being neighbors at the new location,” said Township Administrator Jesse Lightle.
As an accredited Fire Department, Washington Township strives for excellence and continuous improvement and is excited for the opportunities this new station will bring the community.