KEYES, Calif. — The Keyes Fire Fire Protection District is considering a bond on the November ballot that, if passed, would build them a brand new fire station.
From the outside, the Keyes fire station looks like any other, but on the inside of it's makeshift walls, there are bedrooms made out of multipurpose rooms and other efforts to maximize space and storage.
"We have to make do, so we just cut a hole in the wall. This is a shipping container we turned into an equipment storage room," said Fire Chief Royjinder Singh, showing ABC10 around the station.
In short, Chief Singh said the Keyes Fire Protection District has outgrown their starter home.
The volunteer department serves 8,000 residents and covers 22 square miles.
"The most cost effective way would be to demolish this current station and then rebuild here.... the cost of land and property is so high right now, we'd save almost $2 million," said Singh.
Overall, they are looking for a $7 million facilities bond over a 30-year period, which the department said translates to property owners paying an average of $10 a month if passed.
"Even as a volunteer department, we run a traditional, paid department structure. So, we have staff on site for 12 hours, 24 hours or 48 hour shifts, so we weren't really designed to have bedrooms and sleeping quarters," said Singh.
Another issue is that the fire trucks don't fit.
"You can see we can barely close the door, and it hit the back wall," Singh said.
On top of that, new equipment won't fit in the facility and the facility itself isn't big enough to hold trainings.
Singh said they need this bond to pass because there is no other plan. The current building is too old for expansion.
The fire district hopes to put the bond on the November ballot after getting doing more community outreach.
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