Toledo Fire Dept. rededicates Station No. 3

A plaque honoring fallen Toledo firemen Steve Machcinski and James Dickman hangs in the newly renovated Station No. 3.

The Toledo Fire Department rededicated Station 3 in North Toledo today, two years after it closed because of a buckling floor.

Fire Chief Luis Santiago called the rededication a day of “mixed emotions” — happiness for the restoration of the 1927 fire house but sadness, too, inside the station where Privates Stephen Machcinski, 42, and Jamie Dickman, 31, who died in the line of duty on Jan. 26, would have worked.

The station, at Bush and Erie streets, is more than 7,000 square feet larger now. Where now sits the kitchen — outfitted with dark wood cabinets and sleek stainless appliances -- fire trucks and ambulances used to be located. The new apparatus bay sits where -- years and years ago — a movie theater and grocery store used to be.

The Station 3 crews were temporarily moved to Station 13 on Front Street in East Toledo, about a mile from the Bush Street station.

— Taylor Dungjen