PALMYRA — It’s been a long time coming, but Palmyra Township is finally getting a new fire station.

“We all knew that there was a need,” said Paul Rohlan, who has been the township’s fire chief for 16 years. “Trying to make the funds match that need sometimes got a little sticky.”

The need comes from both the tight quarters inside the 5,640-square-foot fire station and from its location right along U.S. 223, which can make it difficult for fire trucks to get out onto the main road when traffic is backed up. The current fire station dates from a time when fire apparatus looked very different than it does today.

“The building we’re in now was built in the 1940s, and of course at that time trucks were significantly smaller,” Rohlan said.

When the department’s newest truck was purchased several years ago, he said, it actually had to be stored in a firefighter’s barn at first — because it needed modifications to be able to fit through the bay doors. The brush truck, meanwhile, can’t be deployed without first pulling the ambulance out, because the ambulance has to be parked in front of it.

Plans call for the new fire station to be built just northwest of the Palmyra Township Hall at 6490 Palmyra Road, and it will ultimately be connected to the township hall. 

The new building will measure 60 feet by 100 feet. Of that 6,000 square feet of space, about 5,000 square feet will be for the truck bays.

Additional space will be gained by converting some rooms in the township hall to fire department use. Three rooms on the northwest side of the township hall will be converted into an office for the chief and assistant chief, an office for the captains, and a meeting room. A room on the other side of the building will be used for training.

The first phase of the project involves constructing the new building and converting the existing spaces in the township hall. The second phase involves connecting the two buildings to each other. That connection will create access to the fire station’s shower facilities from the township hall, a move that — together with the installation of a generator that was completed last spring with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — will allow the township hall to serve as an emergency warming station.

The old fire station will be put up for sale.

The cost of Phase 1 is estimated at $850,000. The Palmyra Township board approved the project at its Dec. 9 meeting.

“Everything’s being funded 100 percent out of saved funds,” township supervisor Dave Pixley said.

Of the $850,000 total, $550,000 will come from fire department savings and $300,000 will come from the township.

Pixley said careful use of funds allowed the township to save enough money for the project.

The fire department has two millages, which last for four years each and are staggered so that one is up for renewal every two years. The fire department millages bring in a total of $252,000 per year. Wages and incidental expenses for the department are covered by the township’s general fund.

Rohlan credited Pixley with putting in long hours to make the project happen.

“Dave’s been working day and night on this thing, it seems like,” he said.

Work is expected to begin in March and take four or five months.