Construction is currently underway on an expansion to the Lucas Fire department station on Lucas Road with several new benefits expected for the community.

“The contractor is telling the city that [the expansion] should be [done] in late May of 2015,” Fire Chief Jim Kitchens said. “The new construction will be connected to the current apparatus bays. There will be a living quarters with eight bedrooms, workout room, a kitchen, living area, patient treatment area, and showers. There will also be an administration area with reception area, several offices and a training room.”

The expansion will help the fire department in its overall efficiency.

“Currently, the small living quarters used by firefighters is in a different building,” Kitchens said. “When a call comes in, the firefighters have to travel across the parking lot to get on the equipment and respond. The new living quarters will be larger to house more firefighters and will be attached to the equipment bays, thus improving response times.”

The new construction should reap positive benefits for the community.

“No impact on traffic or the community is expected,” Kitchens said. “By having the firefighters and paramedics in the same building, our response time to calls will improve. We hope to have a fire station that all citizens of Lucas can be proud of.”

While households in Lucas will greatly benefit from the expansion, many of the sports teams on campus will also be helped from an increase in efficiency.

“Last December, we had a kid dislocate his elbow and the ambulance took a while to get there because the [Lucas] fire department didn’t have an ambulance,” athletic trainer Susan Smiley said. “The kid was in agony with a dislocated elbow while we were waiting for the ambulance to show up and it took a good 20 minutes for them to show up. The same thing happened recently with one of our athletes but, because of the ambulance, they were there within 3 minutes so he wasn’t sitting in pain for very long.”

Faster medical response times are one of the biggest benefits the expansion of the fire department will bring to the high school.

“There is a girl on our A team [at the middle school] named Gracie who broke her leg and she had to sit [on the court] for 20 minutes in pain,” senior volleyball player Hannah Field said. “I think the [expansion] will be good because that means that the fire department will have the resources to get there quicker, so the athletes won’t have to sit in pain.”