Big River Ambulance District crews stationed at House 1 in Cedar Hill are packing their bags.
Chief Scott Fisher said the finishing touches are being completed at the newly constructed House 1 at 6327 Lorens Lane, next to the current House 1, which is 50 years old.
He said crews are currently moving electronics and office furniture from the old house to the new one and hope to be fully moved in by Jan. 8.
Construction began at the new station in November 2023.
The new house cost $4,839,066 and was funded through Proposition Safety, a $17 million bond issue voters approved in August 2022.
Fisher said the district’s calls for emergency medical services have increased by 10 percent over the past year, demonstrating the need for improved facilities.
“Call volumes keep increasing, and that was part of the need for a more advanced station,” Fisher said.
The 9,700-square-foot building will house up to two, two-person crews, administrative offices, and three bays, which will hold two ambulances and a duty vehicle.
Wachter Inc. in Arnold was hired to complete the construction project.
Fisher said he’s looking forward to having room to grow in the new station.
The new building includes a training room that can seat 25-30 people.
“There’s going to be more room in this building for community-type stuff, and more public classes in our training room, like CPR classes,” he said. “We’re going to use the training room for the crews, and then for any classes we put on for the public. This was the goal going through this process, to have more public-oriented offerings and more room for them.”
While the new house has four bunk rooms, which can hold two people in every bunk room, the new house will have one crew, along with a duty officer, for now, Fisher said.
“We’ve got plenty of space in there compared to what we have now,” he said. “We’re hoping, over time, to put a second crew at that engine house. We just don’t really have the time frame for that yet.”
The current House 1 will be used for storage once the new House 1 is in full use, Fisher said.
“We will own the original ambulance house until we get acclimated to the new house and get everything moved over that we need to move over,” Fisher said. “There’s a chance it will go up for sale, but that’s kind of all on the back burner right now.”
Big River Ambulance will have a public open house and celebration to mark the opening of the new house in the spring, Fisher said.
“We’re going to try to plan for something at the beginning of April, sometime when it’s a lot warmer, where we can have the house opened up to everybody and not risk having a snowstorm or anything like that,” he said.
The district covers about 125 square miles in House Springs, Cedar Hill, Morse Mill, Dittmer, Ware, Grubville and Byrnes Mill. The district has two other houses – one at 4795 Tishomingo Road in the Hillsboro area and the other at 6969 Wild Cherry Drive in House Springs.