By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

The St. Cloud City Council Sept. 13 unanimously approved more than a $250,000 expansion of St. Cloud Fire Rescue Station 32 on Old Canoe Creek Road to make way for anticipated additional staffing as well as other spacing needs.

Using $335,181 in Public Safety Impact Fees, St. Cloud-based Theobald Construction, who was awarded the contract, will expand the building’s square footage by 1,020 square feet on the south and back side of the station.

The expansion will accommodate additional workshop space, a larger gym, more bunk space, a maintenance and repair area for firefighters to work on air packs and bunker gear storage to move the gear to an area where fumes from the emergency vehicles won’t damage it.

Additionally, the facility’s heating and cooling system will be replaced.

“We’d eventually have to grow,” Fire Rescue Chief Bill Johnston said. “The timing was right to do it.”

Theobald Construction has about five months to complete the project, according to the contract.