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Wait is over for new fire station in West Ham

Basingstoke

The town’s new fire station is finally set to open after months of holds ups and delays.

Basingstoke’s new £6m fire station, on the site of the former facility in West Ham Close, was due to start being used last Wednesday.

The previous station was demolished in 2016 after which a ceremony was held to mark the start of building work to create what Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service has called the biggest and most modern fire station in Hampshire.

The new fire station location gives the crew access to good road links meaning they can attend incidents as quickly as possible.

The new station will have a crew that will include 64 full time firefighters as well as 17 retained firefighters.

The fire service says that the improved facilities will provide modern living quarters for staff, including improved eating, sleeping and restroom facilities, and enhanced training facilities which will enable service training courses to be run from the station.

The new base is also able to house 7 specialist vehicles, to be used across the county, and the facility has enough space for community rooms that can be used by the wider public.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service had initially predicted the works would take around 16 months to build and have a completion date at the end of 2016.

During the build, the fire service has remained operational and the firefighters have been staying in the site’s breathing apparatus training chamber as a temporary base while the work was being carried out.

There have been claims made to The Gazette this week that female firefighters did not have their own changing facilities during the last stage of the build.

However Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service refuted the claim.

A statement read: “This is not the case, the new station has both male and female facilities both toilets and showers.”

The station is set to officially open with an event in 2018.

Source: http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/15550541.Wait_is_over_for_the_new___6m_fire_station/?ref=mr&lp=4