Falcon breaking ground on fire station
After 34 years of firefighting, Falcon Fire Protection District will build its first taxpayer-funded fire station.
Groundbreaking will be at 9 a.m. Friday, July 31, at the corner of Stapleton Drive and Meridian Ranch Boulevard. The station is slated to open in February.
The $1.6 million, 15,000-square-foot station will be 2.5 times larger than the current one, which also houses administrative offices.
That building, at Highway 24 and Meridian Road, serves as the main station with round the clock staffing. Two other rural truck barns are staffed part time.
The new station, Chief Trent Harwig said, will be 2.5 miles north of the current headquarters, improving response times by the district’s 22 full-time and 30 volunteer firefighters.
“That puts us right in the heart of where the majority of calls are,” Harwig said.
Taxpayers pay 5.712 mills in property taxes, or about $117 a year on a $260,000 home, for fire protection.
Voters have rejected tax increases in the past, so the district struck a deal in which a bank will build the facility and lease it to the district for 10 years after which the district will own it, Harwig said.
The Falcon Fire district covers 133 square miles generally bounded by County Line Road on the north, Highway 94 on the south, Marksheffel Road on the west and Peyton Highway on the east.
A reception after the groundbreaking will be held at the main station. To RSVP, 495-4050 by July 30.
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Call the writer at 636-0238
