A plan to expand the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Station is moving forward.
“We’re basically out of space,” Ed Hestin, fire company president, told our newsroom. “We’ve outgrown the building from an administrative capacity.”
According to Hestin, the Route 19 building is 22 years old, opening in 1995.
Station upgrades would include six private rooms and a bunk room for as many as 12 firefighters to remain on call overnight. Locker rooms, a fitness space and other administrative areas could also be added.
According to Hestin, the objective of the remodel is to encourage new volunteers and improve service for residents.
“We are creating what we’re calling a Bunk-In program,” he said. “The second floor of the building will be all rooms for people to stay in but they won’t be living here full-time, like some companies do. We’ll offer overnight accommodations for people to stay and respond to fire calls overnight. The idea there is to make it attractive to people to want to be a part of the fire company. But, probably even more important than that is to provide better service to the community.”
Officials hope to request bids from companies interested in doing the remodel early next year, with construction to start next spring.