The new fire station at 1235. Camino Del Rio is the Durango Fire Department's technological leader in the department's firefighting arsenal. You're watching the local News Network brought to you by payroll department and FLC Center for Innovation. I'm Connor Shrieve, dfds new 15,500 square foot downtown station houses a crew of eight one ladder truck, a single engine, two ambulances, and the EMS captain. It replaces the previous building next door, which crews moved into in 1983 as a temporary solution.

For 40 years, we've been looking to solve that issue, so need has been there for a long time. You know, there's advantages to waiting as we were able to take advantages of the new technology and, and the new trends and the new safety best practices for to keep firefighters healthy and safe that we got to incorporate into the building.

The majority of firefighter deaths are due to cancer and Durango Fire Chief Randy Black says the station is built for safety from positive pressure living quarters and HVAC systems that keep fumes from living quarters to suit washing stations that keep contaminants off. Responders gear Chief Randy Black says Mental health was a big consideration for crews too.

When you get into your bunk room, you push the button on what truck you're on and it will only page your, your room or your office will only get paged out at nighttime when your truck's active. So if you're, if it's not your truck, you actually get to sleep, which doesn't happen for the station very often, but at least when they're not on calls throughout the night, then they do have that opportunity and, and they're not being disturbed by the other crews that are going out of the station.

Black says the facility was built to accommodate future needs and an additional crew when the need arises. Firefighter paramedic, Christie Harrington says she's enjoying the move.

It's more like amenities. There's now, you know, like multiple dishwashers. Instead of having to like crowd a dishwasher with a bunch of stuff, run it multiple times a day, multiple stoves. There's like enough space for all of us to cook and make our meals, and that's pretty huge.

Construction is still ongoing around the station roads, parking lots, gardens and more. Chief Black says that's also safety driven.

Most vehicle accidents happen from backing and so our two big trucks, the engine and the ladder will actually go down this road and just turn and come in from the back and then pull out to where they're always going forward. So we've got those drive-through bays.

When it's finished, you'll be able to check it out.

It'll be October before we're done with that. And when the whole station's done, we're going to do a big public open house. I'm very excited to show this off to the public. It's their station, their funding, and then the crews are here to take care of them

While residents and firefighters can appreciate the new building focus quickly turns to the town's biggest area of need. Three springs with major growth projected over the next few years and no permanent station. You can learn more about this and other stories at Durango Local News. Thanks for watching this edition of the Local News Network. I'm Connor Shreve.