Chesterton firefighters returned to their remodeled and expanded fire station Monday, where they found a multitude of new amenities, wider hallways and bright white walls.
The fire station’s overhaul is part of the $4 million Town Hall renovation project.
Chesterton firefighter Steve Sloan sits at the table he built and refinished for the department. (Jim Woods/Post-Tribune)
Larson-Danielson Construction Co. of LaPorte is putting the last touches on the Town Hall part of the project. The Town Council has scheduled its first meeting for Dec. 29 in the newly remodeled Town Hall, next door to the fire station. A formal dedication ceremony is planned for Jan. 26.
At around 2 p.m. Monday, Fire Engine 515 pulled out for the last time from the temporary station — the Tilden Enterprises building at 360 Lincoln St. in Porter.
Fire Engineer Steve Sloan, who was loading a few kitchen items in the back of an SUV, noted that being temporarily housed in the Tilden building since late June during construction “was a good alternative.”
“It will be nice to get back,” Sloan said.
Fire Engine 515 backs into the bay at the Chesterton Fire Station. (Jim Woods/Post-Tribune)
The fire bays where the engines are stored largely remain the same, but the offices, living quarters and recreation areas for firefighters are radically different.
“It’s bright, it’s warm, it’s inviting for the firemen and the public that comes through,” said Fire Chief Sean O’Donnell.
O’Donnell’s new office is at least four times as large and has a window.
When O’Donnell moved over from the Gary Fire Department to become Chesterton’s chief in October 2023, the town was in the midst of building a new, $5.6 million police station across Broadway. The old police station had been located on the west side of the Town Hall.
Chesterton Fire Captain Heather Compton stands in the new, wider hallway of the Chesterton Fire Station. (Jim Woods/Post-Tribune)
O’Donnell wasn’t expecting that the town would be able to immediately address the fire station’s needs, so he was thinking of changes on a smaller scale, like addressing the lighting and remodeling some offices. The fire station was built in the 1970s, when the Chesterton Fire Department was a volunteer force.
But Chesterton town officials stepped up to do so much more. The Town Council expanded its Tax Increment Financing District to encompass the Town Hall and will use the property tax funds to make payments on a bond issue to finance the improvements.
“It shows the town has invested in police and fire in very short order,” O’Donnell said.
The game changer was the construction of a two-story, 1,700-square-foot addition.
Fire Engine 515 pulls out of the Tilden Enterprises building, which served as Chesterton’s temporary fire station, for the last time Monday (Jim Woods/Post Tribune)
That addition houses the new offices on the first floor. The second floor includes improved living quarters, bigger lockers, a weight room. an expanded kitchen and a recreational room.
O’Donnell said that the fire department was also able to convert the space at the front of the building that had been used by the Chesterton Police Department detective bureau into a training space for the fire department. He said the department will be able to offer expanded, in-house training opportunities.
Captain Heather Compton said for the first time in her 16 years with the department, she will have her own living area. Women in the department had to sleep in the same room as male firefighters.
“I have my own room, which is going to be odd,” Compton said, as she was working a 24-hour shift Monday.
As a captain, Compton also now has her own office. In the past, she shared her office with another captain.
Compton said that the remodeling creates enough space that the Chesterton Fire Department could accommodate up to 10 firefighters per 24-hour shift, up from the current five firefighters.
“If we had to do that in our old space, we would have been literally on top of each other,” Compton said.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
