Correction appended
Alpha Fire Co.'s College Township substation, now home to just a couple of fire engines, will soon be home to much more.
The 1481 E. College Ave. station is undergoing a $2 million renovation so it can house student firefighters and respond to emergencies outside of the borough faster.
"Currently, it's just a big unfinished barn," said Steve Bair, fire director for the Centre Region Council of Governments (COG).
The station, located in the basement of the College Township Municipal Building, was officially opened in 2002 and will be used primarily as free housing for students volunteering at the station. It will also hold bunks for on-call firefighters, Bair said.
"We currently have more people who want to live-in than we have space available," Bair said.
The substation, removed from the hustle and bustle of downtown State College, offers a more laid-back atmosphere while staying close enough to campus for students to easily get to class, Bair said.
Because of this, he already has current firefighters calling "dibs" on the new station.
"It was the perfect location," Bair said. "There was no land acquisition needed and it's right at the [Mount Nittany] Expressway."
The original plan was to slowly put more elements of a fire station into the substation, starting with just trucks and an office. But the process was moving slower than anticipated, and in 2007, Bair told COG's members they needed to do something new.
So they decided to move everything in at once for a one-time cost of $2 million.
"The fire company and COG always want to do better things for the fire company," Bair said.
Kent Baker, College Township engineer, agrees with Bair's plan and hopes the station can help in numerous ways. The township plans to showcase its new environmentally friendly heating and cooling system, which pulls water from the local sewage treatment plant to maintain the building's temperature, Baker said.
"We want to help the firefighters in the area, as well as make a statement by showcasing our beneficial reuse water system," he said. "It works just like geothermal heating and cooling."
The renovations will be financed through bonds, but both Baker and Bair are confident the station will be worth the investment. Baker said money will be saved in the long run by using the new water system, which costs much less than the building's current fire-to-gas system.
Alpha Fire Co.'s downtown State College main station is located at 400 W. College Ave. The coverage area of Alpha Fire Co. consists of the borough of State College, the townships of College, Ferguson, and Patton and the Penn State campus, according to www. alphafire.com.
Correction: This article contains the incorrect address of the main station. It is located at 400 W. Beaver Ave.
