Mike Bell seeks to renovate North Toledo fire station

Block watch captain Sy Kreais speaks with Toledo City Council president Joe McNamara outside Toledo Fire Station 3 in Toledo, to claim the station, built in 1927, can be saved. The city has already announced that, after a fault was found in the floor, the station would be replaced.

Mayor Michael Bell today sent a memorandum to city council asking for support to explore options to renovate an existing North Toledo fire station and build a new one.

Since the city announced in mid-September the closing of Station 3 at Bush and North Erie streets because of a buckle in the apparatus bay, neighborhood residents have pushed back, asking that the station not be moved to Jamie Farr Park but rather repaired.

In the memorandum, the mayor writes that he has decided to look into renovating Station 3 by building two new apparatus bays next to the station and turning the existing structure, built in 1927, into living quarters.

A second request would include a design for a new Station 12 at Adrian and Chase streets in North Toledo, at Blair Park, which is city-owned property.

"The new Fire Station 12 will provide for coverage of the North Toledo neighborhoods north of Galena Street and the southern areas of Point Place," the mayor writes.

He also wrote that, in the 2013 capital improvements program budget, $4.5 million to renovate and expand Station 3 and construct Station 12.

The decisions, he wrote, are based on "the community desire to keep Fire Station Number 3 open and the need to address a critical gap in Fire and Rescue Operations coverage in North Toledo."

The city initially planned to build a new Station 3, costing an estimated $3.5 million. Since Station 3 closed, fire crews assigned there have been working from Station 13, 1899 Front St., in East Toledo, about a mile from Station 3.