The 6,000-square foot building houses a community room, kitchen, washrooms, showers for firefighters, chief’s office, meeting rooms and storage space.
“It’s beautiful,” said fire chief Gerald Moore. “We’re all proud of this. It is something we can work into now. We hope everybody in the community will utilize the place.”
The old fire hall had outlived its usefulness. Its roof leaked, it was full of mold and firefighters had to dig the floor down to drive fire trucks in.
“We called that the swamp,” said Moore.
“This new fire hall is the result of a vision and many hours of hard work by the firemen of this department,” he said. “It was also made possible with the support of the local communities and grants from both provincial and federal governments.”
The Freeport fire department received $242,719 in funding from the federal government and about $250,000 from the province. The projects original estimated cost was $509,000 but it ended up being $531,000.
The federal funding was provided through the Community Adjustment Fund program that is dispersed regionally by Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
West Nova MP Greg Kerr said opening of the fire hall is an important milestone for the community.
ldelong@digbycourier.ca
