On Sunday June 27th, the community of Erieau is celebrated the re-opening of the Erieau fire station, book exchange and community room.

“The new building will provide great opportunities of use for the residents of Erieau”, commented Assistant Chief Ray Stone. “It is completely accessible and all on one level. There is a modernized community room available for rent and the facility is considered to be equipped as a “post disaster” building in the event of a community or municipal emergency.”

Archon Architect Incorporated from Windsor designed the building and Norlon Builders, from London, completed construction. These were the successful candidates in the tendering/interview process.

The book exchange and community room are similar in size and the fire station was increased to accommodate the larger size of new apparatus and allow the rescue boat to be stored in Erieau year round. It is approximately 8300 square feet. Construction started mid January and the Municipality took possession on May 18, 2010. The project was completed under the projected cost of 1.8 million dollars.

During construction, the department rented space at Barney’s Boats in order to keep fire apparatus in an area where proper and effective emergency response times could be ensured. The book exchange suspended operations and will be resuming services for the re-opening.

Chatham-Kent was successful in gaining funds through an application process to the Community Adjustment Fund. Federal government funds secured towards the project were 1.25 million and $550,000 was used from a capital reserve in the municipal budget.