St. Albert’s first fire hall will turn to rubble this month as crews complete the destruction of the old Fire Hall No. 1 building.
Crews with McColman & Sons Demolition Inc. arrived at 18 Sir Winston Churchill Ave. Oct. 31 to complete the demolition of the old Fire Hall No. 1 building. Built in 1962 for $80,000, the aging brick structure was the first official fire hall in St. Albert.
The old building was worn out after many renovations and was no longer meeting the fire department’s needs, said deputy fire chief Darrel Bliss. The roof leaked, the electrical system was questionable, and its bay doors were too small to fit today’s extra-big fire trucks.
St. Albert council spent $14 million to build a replacement fire hall which opened last June at 20 Gate Ave. (the site of the old southside St. Albert Transit station). The old hall closed its doors May 2, 2022.
Work on the old hall’s $170,000 demolition started in mid-August with the removal of gas and power lines and asbestos abatement, said City of St. Albert project manager Chad Paddick. Starting this week, crews would finish the job with an excavator, crushing the building's walls, roof, and foundations into rubble so it could be hauled off for recycling and/or disposal.
“It won’t be an explosion,” Paddick said, and there won’t be any wrecking balls either.
Paddick said city residents should expect the usual noises associated with heavy equipment during the demolition. A water truck would be on site for dust control. The demolition should be finished within two weeks, leaving a gravel-covered lot.
City council and residents would debate what to do with the old fire hall lands this winter, said Tim Saunders, capital projects office manager for the City of St. Albert. The area was currently zoned as public and private service, which lists schools and parks as permitted uses and community halls, day cares, recreation, churches, and emergency services as discretionary ones.
Bliss said the new hall has room to grow and could house about three more fire trucks than the old one. It also has a room dedicated to its predecessor, within which crews had hung the old hall's address lettering and national flag. City firefighters also carry many memories of the old hall, such as late-night ping-pong games and all-night "fire watches" up in the hose tower — the latter of which was a practical joke sometimes played on new recruits.
Questions on the demolition should go to the city’s construction help desk at 780-459-1762.
