Work on fire station to get under way

Construction work on a new multi-million pound fire station in Cannock is to start tomorrow.

The state-of-the-art facility is to be built on the existing station grounds and will open at the end of January 2011.

Tomorrow constructors Stepnell will clear the site and start preparing the land. From March construction on the new station, which will be on land to the front of the existing building, will start. During the whole of the construction phase firefighters will continue to operate out of the existing station.

They will move across to the new station next January before demolition starts on the old facility.

Letters have been sent to residents close to the fire station, informing them of the construction work.

The current station was built in 1962.

Firefighters currently operate out of the station during the day and respond from home at night.

Once the new community fire station opens the crewing levels will be increased and firefighters will be based there around the clock.

Stuart Claughton, area commander for Cannock fire station, said: "This brand new station will allow us to open our doors to the people of Cannock and give us the opportunity to embed ourselves within the local community.

"We plan to bury a time capsule within the foundations of the new community fire station, so in the coming months we'll be looking for contributions from local residents and partners."

Councillor Phil Jones, who sits on the Fire and Rescue Authority, said: "It's taken years of hard work to get to this stage, so to now see actual construction work in progress, it's very rewarding. The current station was built nearly 50 years ago now so a brand new station is certainly welcomed."

The station is one of 10 new community fire stations being built under the £46 million private finance initiative project.

The consortium delivering the project is called Fire Support and construction company, Stepnell, has been contracted to carry out the build at Cannock.