Coledale Fire Station has undergone a $1.65m refurbishment. Photo: FRNSW.
Coledale firefighters and residents have welcomed a $1.65 million facelift to the village’s ageing fire station.
The recently unveiled refurbishment includes modern bathroom amenities, separate clean and dirty zones, and extra ventilation in the engine bay.
The station has a new roof, kitchen and storeroom, as well as an internal breathing apparatus area.
Fourteen firefighters are based at the station, including three female first responders.
FRNSW Zone Commander Superintendent Peter Church said the original station was in need of an overhaul.
“Now the firefighters have got dedicated changerooms and amenities for both males and females, it really does meet the standards of FRNSW moving forward,” he said.
“I don’t think they imagined how good the refurbishment was going to be after putting up with the old station for so long, but now it’s outstanding and they’re all very happy with the result.”
The first Coledale Fire Brigade from the 1930s – Reg Tuckerman, Jimmy Morgan, Harry Fitzpatrick, Fred Meades, Wal Speed. From the collections of Wollongong City Libraries and the Illawarra Historical Society – P01592.
The refurbished station is a far cry from the building which housed Coledale’s first brigade in 1930, which was a garage-type building with a single room and made of weatherboard, concrete floors and an iron roof.
The five volunteers who initially ran the station were equipped with a hose cart, three scaling ladders, a chemical fire extinguisher and more than 700 feet (about 215 metres) of hose. They worked out of the building for 26 years.
The current station on Lawrence Hargrave Drive was built in 1956.
NSW Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib said the station was one of many in NSW either under renovation or earmarked for improvements.
“Stations like Coledale have been identified for upgrades under FRNSW’s Fit for Purpose program, which aims to modernise stations and bring them more in line with the needs of a changing firefighting workforce,” he said.
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