Plans to demolish old Scott fire station underway
SCOTT, La. (KLFY) -- Next time you drive on Lions Club Road you might notice a change. Plans to demolish the old fire station are underway.
The old fire station on Lions Club Road will be torn down. A lot of firefighters were trained here and many memories were created.
"The council did approve to tear this station down. that's a council decision or a mayor's decision on what point or what it's going to be used for,” said Scott Fire Chief Chad Sonnier.
Fire Chief Sonnier says in the late ‘70s the community of Scott began to grow causing a need for the fire department to expand.
"This was [originally] a two-based station that we converted into a four-base station,” said Sonnier about the building.
However, changes for what the old fire station will become are still to be decided. The new fire station right next to City Hall houses eight trucks.
"We're just happy that the city agreed to partner with us and allowed us to move into this newer station right next to City Hall because we can accommodate the growth of Scott a lot better than we could at this station,” Chief Sonnier said.
It's been a decade since the old fire station has been used.
"Roughly a decade ago was the last time we used the station as you are aware the city grew and we had to have a ladder truck we couldn't fit the ladder truck in here which got the ball rolling on the new station which we were able to fund through state funding through a grant,” said Chief Sonnier.
Chief says the old fire station helped jumpstart many firefighters’ careers.
"This area has a lot of memories. I know we have a lot of guys being back in the day when in the late 70s early 80s everybody was a volunteer fireman. it's kind of a rite of passage if you were a citizen of Scott and you were a male,” said Chief.
The chief says the fire department has grown since then.
"Now we have females, we have males, we have everybody and not only is it volunteer but we have career guides as well. so we have people that had volunteered their time for many years that actually made a career out of this now they're career firefighters,” said Chief.
The Fire Chief says you can take down the building but you can't take away the memories the firefighters have.
There will be a council meeting Thursday at 6:00 p.m. to further detail plans for the building.