Merritt fire hall expansion nears completion

MERRITT, B.C. — The long and winding road that has been the expansion project at the Merritt Fire Department is finally nearing completion.

Back in 2012, the results of a fire station location study were presented to City Council, thus beginning a near decade long project. In February of 2013, a decision was made to proceed with a two-phase addition.

The first phase of the project was completed in January of 2015, with plans to move quickly towards phase-2 after securing the funding.

Budgeting became one of the main problems with proceeding with phase-2 as by the time the City was prepared to move forward the $2.2 million estimate provided in 2015 was no longer correct, having more than doubled to $5 million.

“The number is different enough that it is not going to happen without a redesign,” said Sean Smith at the time. “With the wild variance in those numbers, it is going to have to be a different plan.”

Finally following a redesign and scaling down, and with the project, back within budget the project was once again moving forward in early 2020, just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the area.

The expansion was budgeted at approximately $2.1 million.

Fire Chief Dave Tomkinson provided a quick update on the construction to Q101 confirming that the department expects to take occupancy of the addition in late March.

“We will be ready for paint and interior finishes soon,” added Tomkinson.

This week, the site was filled with electrical and mechanical contractors and the drywall is almost complete.