VIDEO: On Thursday, the La Crosse Fire Department held an open house for its new Fire Station 4.
After nearly a year of construction, the station is now open on Gillette Street. It is the department's second new station in the past 14 months, joining Station 2 on the UW-L campus.
The new building houses several response and specialty vehicles, seven full-time firefighters, and a new north side police office.
La Crosse Fire Chief Jeff Schott said the new station offers numerous opportunities for the department.
“Operationally it just makes us better. It gives us the space to train, it allows us to have the space to have a multitude of equipment for different types of responses including 2 boats, 3 front line pieces of apparatus, 2 engines and a ladder truck. Amazing opportunities for us to just grow with the community and get better," said Schott.