VIDEO: One final push officially opened the city's newest fire station Wednesday morning.
As part of a tradition, Columbus Division of Fire firefighters and paramedics pushed a fire engine inside the garage bay doors of the new Station 16, located at 1465 Oakland Park Dr., which will provide service to North Linden and the surrounding area.
City Council approved $9.4 million in July 2019 for construction of the station, which replaces the old station on Weber Road that was built in the 1950s.
Battalion Chief Steve Martin said the Weber Road station had been built at a time when Weber Road was on the far north side of Columbus and the city as a whole saw the number of runs that Station 16 now handles by itself. The new station is equipped to house up to 15 people at a time in single-person dormitory rooms, Martin said. Most shifts have about nine people who would be sleeping at the station, but the station allows for growth or students riding along with fire crews to be housed comfortably.