VIDEOS: Welders flipped down their masks and lit up their torches as they put the finishing welds on steel supports that were inserted last week for the newest addition to the Peoria Fire Department. The building for Station 16, donated to the department some seven decades ago, was torn down last year, so a new one could be built in its footprint, said Fire Chief Shawn Sollberger.
โWhat youโll see behind me is our new fire station 16. Itโs going to be located in the same footprint that it was before,โ he said. โSo we went through this crazy evolution. โI need to tip my hat to the city manager. It was his project working with (state) Sen. (David) Koehler and working with (state) Representative Jehan Gordon-Booth to secure $5 million in state grant funding, and giving us the ability to demolish the donated fire station,โ the chief said.
