New Fire Hall breaks ground in Maberly

Aug 26, 2010

Photo: l-r: building committee chair Brad Adrain, fire chief Greg Saunders, Rev. William Crozier, councilor Gail Code, deputy reeve Susan Freeman, councilor Roxanne Darling, MP Scott Reid, reeve Keith Kerr, councilor Brain Campbell and fire chief Jeff Kirkham

Various officials and members of the community gathered at the location of the new fire hall in Maberly for the official ground breaking ceremony on August 20.

The event was hosted by Tay Valley Township Reeve Keith Kerr, and before the shovel was put in the ground a number of guests spoke at the Maberly Hall including MP Scott Reid, Fire Chief Greg Saunders, and councilor and Chair of the Fire Board Brian Campbell

The new hall will replace the much smaller two- building facility, which lacked adequate parking for fire vehicles, meeting room space, training grounds, kitchen facilities and women's washrooms. The new $1.3 million facility will be built on a 14 acre parcel of land located just west of Maberly's Main street and just north of Hwy. 7. It was purchased at 25% less than its original purchase price from Rev. William Crozier of the Free Methodist Church – which amounted to a near donation of the land at cost.

The new 8,000 square foot facility was designed by Christine Erdos Design and will be built by Guy Saumure and Sons Construction Ltd. It will include six bays with entrances on both sides, a large meeting room, kitchen facilities, two offices, and men’s and women's washrooms. The surrounding land will be used for training exercises.

The provincial and federal governments have each contributed $430,000 to the project.

Chair of the Building committee and fire fighter Brad Adrain is thrilled with the new proposed facility. “The need has been there for a very long time. Going from two small inadequate buildings to a single building where we can properly store and maintain our vehicles and equipment will greatly improve virtually everything that we do, including our response times. The morale of the fire fighters is sky rocketing right now. With everything now under one roof, everything as a result is going to improve.”

The new facility is due to be completed by March 2011.