Two open house celebrations will happen this weekend to celebrate the reopening of a pair of Muncie fire stations.
The McCulloch Park and Mock Avenue fire stations will be opening their doors Saturday, Feb. 11, to the public for open house celebrations. The McCulloch Park festivities will begin at noon, followed by Mock Avenue at 2 p.m.
The McCulloch Park fire station has been closed since February of 2011 due to flooding and mold damage. Due to how extensive the damage is, most of the renovating efforts have been concentrated on this station.
"We're finishing remodeling downstairs: New cabinetry, new flooring, new furniture," Fire Chief Eddie Bell said. "Everything downstairs was basically destroyed. Now we've been working on the upstairs, just basically making sure everything matches on both levels."
In 2009, during Sharon McShurley's tenure as mayor, the Mock Avenue fire station was closed as a cost-cutting measure. Mayor Dennis Tyler made it part of his mission, during the election, to open these fire stations and create firefighter positions that had been removed.
"It's a great neighborhood out there on Mock and 21st," Bell said. "The people are great and they just want to have their fire station back and, due to the mayor, we're going to have that."
Fire officials stressed the importance of opening the stations for the sake of public safety and maneuvering difficulties of the railroad system in Muncie.
"One of the stations [McCulloch Park] was bound by railroad tracks," Deputy Chief Bret Granger said. "It was a big problem, even from the downtown station running out that way. We got caught at tracks several times."
Despite the additional running fire stations, Mayor Tyler assures the public that this will not have a significant financial impact on the city of Muncie.
"There aren't going to be any additional tax dollars, other than the utilities," Tyler said. "We're not putting anybody in harms way by moving firefighters from one station into another. It's been a very coordinated effort by Chief Bell and Granger and they should be complimented for their efforts."
Not only does Feb. 11 mark the opening of the new fire stations but also the beginning of the new safe house program throughout all Muncie fire stations. The program will provide shelter to victims of abuse throughout Muncie.
Considering all of the preparation for the openings and the safe house program, firefighters from stations around the city were enlisted for help during the past month of renovations.
"The guys within the fire stations themselves have really stepped up to the plate in a huge way to help get these fire stations reopened," Tyler said. "It just means so much to them and what they do as public servants."
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