Santa Clara Fire Department celebrates grand opening

SILVER CITY ---- The Santa Clara Fire Department celebrated the grand opening of its new facility on Friday with a reception and a tour for community members, while dozens of elementary school children climbed in and out of the fire trucks.

Eighty-eight Central Elementary School students and 25 community members attended the event, passing out about as many "thank-you s" and handshakes in recognition of the community s effort in the completion of the new building ---- a project nearly three years in the making.

"It's going to be a great addition to the village," said Santa Clara Mayor Richard Bauch. "It's something we've needed for a long time."

The building features a new conference room, five rooms for storage and cleaning purposes, an empty space for a future second story addition and an 80-by-40 foot garage ---- double the size of the old garage ---- with a drive-through bay.

"The other building, we d have to back the fire trucks in and we had vehicles parked outside," said Fire Chief Frank Ryan.

He said that depending on how far the funding goes, additions to the building will be made in the future, including new lockers, a kitchenette and interior and exterior work like a paint job and new asphalt.

The new facility cost $775,000, according to Bauch, and was paid for by money from the village as well as three funding sources including an initial $160,000 from the state, a $396,000 community development block grant, and another $180,000 from the state that

"We're well represented here in the mining district," Bauch said.

"Everyone pulled together to make sure the funding was there," Morales said. "Everybody put their efforts together to get this done."

The opening kicked off at 10 a.m. with a hands-on fire truck investigation by students from Central Elementary School, all of whom clambered on and around two trucks amidst high-fives, excited screams and blaring horns, before teachers rounded everybody up for a group photo in front of the new station.

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Santa Clara Fire Department celebrates grand opening