Edinburgh officials have broken ground on the new Edinburgh Fire Station 41 in Indiana on County Road 900 North. The town’s fire operations are set to be relocated to the new property from its current location at 203 S. Walnut Street when works are completed.

The project is expected to cost $3.5 million dollars and is being funded by the down with a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) agreement. The agreement will mean that a developer funds and arranges financing for the project and when it is complete it becomes the property of the town. The town will then pay back the financed amount over 10 years at a 2.5% interest rate, said Dan Cartwright, town manager.

Cartwright said that the new building will provide more space for equipment and personal space for each of the firefighters, following the decision in recent years to have firefighters on duty 24/7. The new site will give firefighters have a modern living space with separate sleeping rooms.

“Well, our firefighters have been living in really substandard conditions. It’s a really old fire station, with no separate sleeping rooms, and it’s just very jam packed so they were in desperate need of a new one,” said Cartwright.

Edinburgh Fire Chief John Henderson said: “I couldn’t be happier that the council has supported the idea of really giving these guys proper accommodations to consolidate our equipment and to make them feel more comfortable while working.”

He added: “We hope this is a recruitment opportunity, we’ve talked to other departments and they have invested like this as well and were able to recruit more. We hope that happens, we are going to start another fire training program in July to train some of our own.”

Construction on the station is expected start in July and the station is expected to be complete by May 2023, Cartwright added.