SHELBY — The Shelby Fire Department has a new fire station for the first time since 1872.
The new building, a 12,443 square-foot station is located on High School Avenue just north of the Shelby Justice Center with major upgrades.
The Shelby Fire Department has a new fire station for the first time since 1872.
The new building, a 12,443 square-foot station is being constructed on High School Avenue just north of the Shelby Justice Center, was constructed with major upgrades from the original fire house.
Grant Milliron, whose donation paid for the bulk of the building, said the firehouse has new safety features such as heated floors, hoses in the garage to suck up carcinogens in the air after fires, a decontamination area to keep equipment separate from living areas to reduce exposure to diesel fumes, a fire sprinkler system, bedrooms with three single-sized bed frames and cubbies underneath for personal affects, a kitchen and showers — one for women and three for men.
Milliron added the Shelby Fire Department doesn’t have any female firefighters, but someday they may and now the station is ready.
The building was made from more than 1,300 cubic yards of concrete, 120,000 tons of steel, more than 3,000 tons of stone, said Shawn Rader, project manager of Simonson Construction Services out of Ashland.
A dedication ceremony was held in the fire department’s new fire engine garage with speakers including Rader, Mayor Steven Schag, Fire Chief Mike Thompson, Milliron and Ohio State Fire Marshal Jeff Hussey.
“The fire service is being asked to do more and more all the time and no body is taking away anything. We have a major opioid crisis, and we are dealing with homeland security issues,” Hussey said. “This facility will allow this fire department to address those needs and help the community as it continues to evolve.
“This building addresses some of those risks that will help firefighters safe. It has a training room to train and prepare for issues they are facing, theses hoses hanging down from the ceiling are addressing a cancer problem we have in the fire service.”
Throughout the dedication, each speaker thanked the community.
“Because of donations from the community, Shelby has the best fire station in the state of Ohio and I am happy to say it’s paid in full,” Schag said, turning around to shake Milliron’s hand.
Schag said there were donations to the project from community members ranging from $20 to $50,000.
The department has taken a number of creative approaches towards fundraising. One of the firefighter’s wives had a bake sale during the Shelby Bicycle Days festival. On July 18, Thompson went go head-to-head with Shelby Police Chief Lance Combs in a “Battle of the Chiefs” fundraiser at The Vault, with all proceeds going towards the fire department.
In addition, the department secured a $50,000 grant and a $48,000 loan at 3.5-percent interest from the USDA Rural Development Program. Part of that funding will go towards a $24,000 generator for the new building that was purchased by the city.
Milliron, a strongly religious man, said this project was planted in his mind by God, and that God was able to surround him with the right people to complete the project.
chag said the building created outshines the original design drawing that was unveiled on Oct. 6, 2017.
During his speech, Milliron mentioned numerous obstacles his team had to overcome to complete the project.
“The first thing we had to do was dig up the old foundation,” he said. “We expected this to take three days, well, it was the largest foundation I’d ever seen.”
Removing the foundation took three weeks, he said.
Schag added that there were some in the community who said they’d believe the project when they saw it.
“This is the day,” He said. “This is the day we’ve all been waiting for. This is the day we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. For many years.”
As for the 146-year-old building fire station building, Thompson said the fire department has fond memories of the building, but the best part of memories is being able to hold on to them while creating new memories in the new state-of-the-art fire house donated to them.
“I’m overjoyed,” he said. “You don’t know what to say, other than thank you to Mr. Milliron for what he has done for the community.
“This isn’t just for the fire department, it’s for the entire community to be proud of. It’s truly the new centerpiece of the town. And we can’t thank him enough.”
