The City of Peoria should have a new fire station on the city’s South Side a year from now.
The council last night approved the purchase of an empty lot in the 500 block of South Western Avenue for $40,000. Architectural work for that site will start tomorrow.
Fire Chief Ed Olehy said the new station will better serve the South Side than the current station on Southwest Jefferson. He also said they’ll be able to more quickly respond to the Bradley University area.
"We’re going to pre-empt the lights on Western. So we’ll put in a pre-emption system which turns the light’s color to our green so once we’re out on Western, not having to slow down on the Western hill is a big thing for us," Olehy said.
Construction will cost about $2.5 million. It is the first newly constructed Peoria fire station in two decades.