After 12 years of planning and discussion, members of the Town Council finally kicked up some dirt to officially break ground for Fire Station #2 at its relocation site on Fountain Hills Boulevard last week.

Workers with Danson Construction are to be on site beginning Monday, Jan. 29, with completion of the project this fall.

“Public safety is the most important thing that a municipality does,” said Mayor Linda Kavanagh. “This new station will assure citizens receive the best service from our fire department for years to come.”

Fountain Hills Rural/Metro Fire Chief Dave Ott said the ground-breaking was a very happy day for the department. He noted that former chief, the late Scott LaGreca, started working on this project in 2005.

“A lot of planning went into this in working with the neighbors so it will fit well with the neighborhood,” Ott said. “We are ready to get dirt moving here.”

Ott said the siting for the station took into consideration improved response times to western parts of town as well as greater efficiency for the department.

The new location will have the effect of reducing the number of calls answered from Fire Station #1 on Palisades Boulevard, and the calls will increase for crews at Fire Station #2.

An ambulance crew now housed at the shopping center where Fry’s grocery store is located will be relocated to a home base at the new station.

There will also be space dedicated to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in the new building.

The facility is designed at 9,600 square feet with three truck bays and personal space for six firefighters. The project bid is for $4,058,000. EPCOR Water will split the cost of driveway improvements to the site that also provides access to a water company facility.

In 2009 the town applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a grant available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Obama Administration program to stimulate the economy out of the Great Recession.

Though hundreds of such grants were awarded for fire stations across the country, Fountain Hills did not receive one. The project has been on the sideline since that time.

Fire Station #2 opened at its current location on Saguaro Boulevard south of Shea Boulevard in 1993. At the time the Fountain Hills Fire District was under contract to serve the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, and growth in the western parts of Fountain Hills was just beginning.