| FACILITIES | ||
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The Chowchilla Volunteer Fire Department started out in its original location at the rear of old City Hall and the Police Department building at 145 Robertson Boulevard. This department operated out of that facility sharing space with the Madera County Fire Department until the department added more equipment and the County Fire Station relocated to 15th Street near Robertson Boulevard. |
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| Facility Locations | ||
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With Chowchilla's growth and the need for more space for Police, Fire, and City Hall services, the City partnered with Madera County and built a new facility on Trinity Avenue for Police, Sheriff, and Court services as well as a shared City and County Fire location. All of the occupants moved into this new facility around 1976. With the need for the Police Department to expand further, the City built a new Fire Station at 240 North First Street in 1998 (see photo above). This allowed the Volunteer Fire Department to have their own facility and gave the Police Department the much-needed space for their expansion. The Chowchilla Volunteer Fire Department moved into their new location in December 1999. The station was designed to be easily expandable, capable of housing all current fire equipment, and includes space that can be converted to living quarters at such time the City requires full-time firefighters. The station also accommodates local ambulance crews as needed. The department is currently working on an expansion project at Station 1 which would add a Public Safety storage area to house the Mobile Command Post and a reserve fire engine. Further expansion plans in the works would enable Madera County Fire Station 2 to be housed at this station. The Madera County Fire Sub-Station is currently located at the Chowchilla Police Department; this move would also allow for expansion plans at the Police Department. |
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| Planned Growth | ||
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As the City experiences rapid growth, the plan is to add full-time firefighters to assist our volunteers and also add new strategically placed fire stations to serve the City. The next planned addition is a second station in the area of Robertson Boulevard and Fig Tree Road. The addition of this station will provide a timely response to the Greenhills area, the new elementary school in that area, as well as provide emergency services to the east side of the railroad tracks. This will help reduce response times to the east side of town due to passing trains. The long-term goal is to plan for a third fire station on the west end of the City as growth in that area continues to expand. Looking even further into the future, the Fire Department and the Police Department are planning for a joint training facility and also a fourth fire station farther east of the existing City limits. With the current economy forecast, funding sources and options are being examined before any plans can progress for future needs. |
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