City breaks ground on new Converse Ave. fire station
Oct. 6—CHEYENNE — The city marked the official beginning of a construction project Wednesday that will bring three fire stations to new locations.
The ceremonial groundbreaking at the site of the new Station No. 5, 4200 Converse Ave., was the culmination of a multi-year mission to expand Cheyenne Fire Rescue's footprint, reduce response times and, hopefully, make residents safer.
The construction of all three stations is made possible by voters' approval of a sixth-penny sales tax extension in November 2021. The total cost of building the three stations is expected to be about $21 million, Mayor Patrick Collins said Wednesday.
They will be the first fire stations built in the city in 31 years, according to CFR Chief John Kopper.
"These improvements will enhance response times, firefighter safety and wellness, and better protect our community by ensuring stations are placed in strategic locations throughout the city to meet the demand of growth and community safety needs," Kopper said.
Station No. 5 — which was built in 1963, according to CFR's website — will be relocated from 2014 Dell Range Blvd. Station No. 3, located at 1720 Cleveland Ave., was built in 1981. These two are the oldest operating fire stations in the city.
The relocated Station No. 3 will be situated off Nationway, near the Ashley HomeStore. The completely new station, No. 7, will be on the west side of Whitney Road at Countryside Avenue, near the Sinclair gas station and U-Haul Moving and Storage of east Cheyenne.
Once construction begins, it will take about 11 months to complete each new station, CFR Division Chief Byron Mathews said Wednesday.
In an interview, Collins said the city expected to break ground later this month on the Nationway site, and, in early November, start on the location in east Cheyenne.
"This is something we probably should have done a while ago, but this sets us up for the next 50 to 100 years," Collins said at the groundbreaking. "We know where the city is going to grow — to the east, to the north. And so these three fire stations are going to set us up to be able to provide the quality and the timely service that our fire department sets their goals to do."
The South East Wyoming RC Club's track, located near the site, has been relocated to a county-owned area in the Archer Complex. Kopper thanked the group for its "flexibility" in changing locations, and the Laramie County Board of Commissioners for helping them find the spot.
The fire chief also thanked Robert Wirth and the Edwards family, who either sold or traded their land to the city for two of the new stations' sites. The Nationway property was purchased from Wirth, and the city traded a piece of land it owned off Storey Boulevard for the Whitney Road property.
The city already owned the land off of Converse Avenue where Station No. 5 will be relocated. This land sits adjacent to the Converse Softball Complex.
It's unclear whether any extra safety measures will be taken for the Converse Avenue station, such as overhead traffic signals like the ones used at the current Station No. 5 on Dell Range. Matthews said in a Wednesday interview that it would take some public education to get people used to seeing fire trucks leaving from new areas.
Before praying over the Converse Avenue site on Wednesday, Pastor Galen Huck of Cheyenne Hills Church spoke about the strength it takes to "run into buildings and run into places where we're running away from," as firefighters do.
Huck explained that the ancient Greeks said horses that were powerful, but in control of that power, had "prowess."
"Really, this (station) is a stable for for men and women with prowess," the pastor said, "for special people in our community."
Hannah Black is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice reporter. She can be reached at hblack@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3128. Follow her on Twitter at @hannahcblack.
