Demolition ceremony held for Fire Station No. 2

City officials kicked-off renovations to Fire Station No. 2 on Wednesday morning with a unique demolition ceremony.

The $1.75 million project will include a remodel of the interior of the fire station, the addition of public restrooms at the back of the building and the demolition of the former parks and recreation department building beside the fire station, which will become a parking area.

City officials wanted to celebrate the occasion with a traditional groundbreaking ceremony but since there wasn't much ground to break, they decided to put on hard hats and use hammers to knock holes in one of the interior walls slated for demolition, according to Fire Chief Jeremey Criner. Architect Matt Pearson and Scott Murry, a representative of C.R. Crawford Construction, joined the city officials and directors in the ceremony.

Before the demolition ceremony, firefighters took down the U.S. Flag in front of the fire station and folded it for safekeeping. It will be returned to its original place when renovations are complete.

City Administrator Phillip Patterson said the renovations will be great for the city, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel.

"I'm real thankful that we've had the opportunity to be able to do this to Station 2," he said. "It's been a long time coming and I want to thank the board members for your support and dedication, not only to the city, but to the Fire Department (and) Station 2. I think it's going to be a great project, and I know C.R. Crawford is going to do a really good job for us. I can't wait to get it started and get to a completion date and have another flag ceremony to raise the flag and put you guys back into the station."

The project is expected to take seven months, Criner said, and construction was already underway on Wednesday afternoon.

In a presentation to the city board of directors last October, Criner said the renovations will not substantially change the footprint of the building and will only add a few additional square feet at the back of the fire station. Inside the station, renovations will create separate sleeping and restroom areas for male and female firefighters, as well as a display area in the entry way for the department's first motorized fire truck -- originally purchased in 1921 and returned to the city in 2016 after spending decades in a Dallas museum. The addition on the back of the building will accommodate two public restrooms with exterior doors, which will be available for visitors to the park.

Outside the fire station, the project will include the demolition of the former parks and recreation department building next door, which will be replaced with a parking lot. In turn, the former parking lot, behind the fire station, will be replaced with green space.

While the renovations are underway, crews and equipment have been relocated to the other two fire stations and staffing models have been changed up so the other two stations can cover Station No. 2's area, Criner said.

Fire Station No. 2 has long been a landmark in Siloam Springs. It was originally the location of a three-story building that housed the fire and police departments on the first floor, city offices and the library on the second floor and the hospital on the third floor, according to the museum website. The building stood until around 1965, and was replaced by what was then Fire Station No. 1 in 1967, the website states. Eventually, Fire Station No. 1 was moved to a new and much larger building on Cheri Whitlock Drive, and the building on Mt. Olive Street became Fire Station No. 2. The city's Fire Station No. 3 is located on South Lincoln Street.