Howard County is on schedule to complete construction of an $11 million fire station in West Friendship by August.

The station, which the county is building on 6.1 acres at the intersection of Route 99 and Route 32, will replace the current West Friendship Volunteer Fire Department station on Route 144, near Route 32.

The new two-story station will house the 100-member volunteer department, according to West Friendship chief Mickey Day.

The county will own the building while the West Friendship department owns the land on which the facility is being built, according to Howard County Fire Chief Joseph Herr.

County officials are building the new station because anticipated State Highway Administration changes to the intersection of routes 32 and 144 would make it more difficult for West Friendship fire fighters to have easy access to Route 32 from the current station, Herr said.

He added that members of the volunteer department wanted to move to a location that had easier access to Interstate 70 and that the existing 11,000-square-foot station, which was built in 1948, had become too small and too old for the department.

"There's a very limited amount of room to do anything there," Herr said.

The new 28,810-square-foot station will house two hose-and-water-carrying fire trucks, two water tanker trucks, two ambulances, an aerial ladder truck and a small engine for brush fires, Herr said.

The station also will house sleeping quarters for 21 people, a feature that is designed to attract trained college students looking for free room and board who want to volunteer as firefighters, Herr said.

The station always will be staffed by three paid firefighters. In addition, two paid firefighters will work 10-hour shifts Monday through Friday, Day said, adding that between five and six volunteers would staff the station in the evening.

Purchase of old station

The station was approved by the county council in 2007 as part of the county's fiscal 2008 capital budget, county budget director Raymond Wacks said.

At the time, county officials said they would buy the old West Friendship fire station for an additional $1.5 million from the volunteer department, Day said.

That proposal -- which would bring the total cost of the project to $12.5 million -- is before the County Council for approval in the county's proposed fiscal 2009 budget and, if approved, will be funded from the county's fire tax, Wacks said.

The $1.5 million will help the volunteer department buy equipment, medical supplies and furnishings for the new station, Day said.

County officials have not decided yet on what to do with the old West Friendship station if they buy it, Wacks said, adding that it might be converted into a storage facility.

E-mail Mike Santa Rita at msantarita@patuxent.com.

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