After three years between approval to ribbon cutting the brand new Parkhill Fire and Paramedic Station is open and servicing the municipality. Saturday saw a ribbon cutting and open house for the community with speeches from dignitaries and more at the downtown Main Street station location.
North Middlesex Council voted to proceed with the design of the new station as part of the 2020 capital budget. The construction was able to move forward due to the generous donation of the land by Hensall Co-op. North Middlesex Fire Chief Greg Vandenheuvel says the facility is amazing.
The fire station features 3 apparatus bays, a staff training room and offices for fire department staff. The North Middlesex Fire Department is staffed by paid on-call firefighters. Chief Vandenheuvel says down the road more apparatus could be making a home there.
Mayor Brian Ropp says bringing in EMS along with fire was the right way to go.
We also spoke with Kelly Dolbear, Commander of Logistics and Project Lead for Paramedic Services who says the project went very well and relocating to main street as opposed to a side street was key.
The paramedic station features 2 apparatus bays, a common area for the paramedics as well as a paramedic staff office. The Middlesex-London paramedic service will operate on a 24/7 basis.
written by: C. Soares