The township, which covers part of western St. Joseph County, hopes to break ground this fall on a new station next door to its existing station on Quince Road. The project seeks approval from the St. Joseph County Board of Zoning Appeals at its next meeting Sept. 13.
The department recently vacated its Crumstown Highway station for a newly built station at Grant and Peach roads.
Both older stations were designed for volunteer firefighters, but like many departments these days, Warren has only paid firefighters. That means they lack living and sleeping space, and heating and cooling systems for year-round living.
Also, today’s firetrucks need taller doors.
Antonucci expects the new Quince Road station to take about a year to build and cost about $5 million. Once ground is broken, hopefully this fall, it’s expected to take about a year to finish.
The township plans to then convert the existing Quince Road station into a community center.
"We're starting to see a little bit of growth in this area and with the battery plant coming right next door to us, those kinds of things contribute to trying to plan ahead a little bit," Antonucci said.
