With a traditional push, Lexington’s first new fire station in 12 years opens its doors.
An engine from Station 24 rolled out of its bay for the first time this week, marking the first new firefighting operation in Lexington in over a decade.
The station opened on Monday morning with a tradition: Before driving to their first call, firefighters pushed their engine into Station 24’s brand new firehouse. The moment was captured on the Lexington Fire Department’s social media.
Later in the day, officials with the Lexington Fire Department watched Station 24’s engine roll out to its first emergency call “like proud parents on the first day of school.”
The new station is located on Magnolia Springs Drive and will service Masterson Station as well as the surrounding residential areas. Construction for the station started over a year ago in February 2018.
This is the city’s 24th operational fire station. It makes history for Lexington in a number of ways.
Although the Station 2 firehouse on Eastland Drive was rebuilt in 2017, Station 24 is the first brand new firefighting operation in Lexington since 2007. (Oddly enough, the most recent before it was Station 22; Station 23 opened in 2005.)
The new station is also the first and only in Lexington with an operational tanker vehicle. The tanker — fittingly known as Tanker 1 — has the capacity to carry over 3,000 gallons of water.
Lexington Fire Lt. Jessica Bowman said the new tanker would be instrumental in transporting water to the scene of a fire, particularly in nearby rural areas with fewer hydrants. Bowman said the tanker would be dispatched to any scene more than 1,500 feet from a fire hydrant.
Station 24 also has a number of in-house amenities for firefighters on duty, including a dayroom, kitchen, bedroom and fitness center, as well as locker rooms and several areas intended for decontamination following a job. Several of the outfitted rooms are designed to address risks like cancer and suicide, both of which affect firefighters at greater rates, according to Lexington Fire Maj. Jordan Saas.
“Anything we can do to de-stress between calls is positive,” Saas said. If that means they “watch a show for 30 minutes (in the dayroom) — well, if it helps, it helps. It’s better than hearing about a brother or sister taking their own life.”
In 2016, the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety released findings that cancer diagnoses and deaths are significantly higher among firefighters compared to the general population. Several of Station 24’s new rooms — like the decontamination rooms situated near the engine — are intended to address carcinogens.
All the included amenities are tangible ways to make the job — and life — easier. But symbolism doesn’t hurt, either.
Saas said the traditional pushing of the fire engine brings firefighters together in a shared task while also paying homage to history. Before engines were motorized, fire trucks were steered by horses and carriages. When an engine returned to the station, firefighters had to manually push the vehicle back inside its bay.
Although engines can now back inside on their own, Saas said the task allows firefighters to never forget where they came from.