NR Ambulance Service moves into new home
Almost a month later than anticipated, the New Richmond Area Ambulance Service has officially moved.
The new building, which is located on the northwest corner of the former New Richmond Middle School property, was completed last week and crews were given the OK to move into the roughly $945,000 facility on Friday, Jan. 20.
Officials broke ground at the site on June 14, 2011 and construction progressed steadily with only a few hiccups, said Matt Melby, ambulance service director.
“We had a few contractors who had trouble getting some supplies,” he said. “That caused some problems in the progress. It was a slow waltz.”
Some work still needs to be completed on the exterior of the building, including paint touchups and some drainage work, but that can’t be done until spring, he said.
The majority of the ambulance service’s move was completed over the weekend, he said. On Monday, Jan. 23, a few items remained at the old location.
“By the end of the week we’ll get the old building cleaned out so the fire department can move in,” he said.
So far there have been few to no complaints of problems with the building, Melby said.
“The only thing I can think of is that the water heater is flashing a weird message, but the plumber is coming back out to look at that,” he said.
The ambulance service, which previously rented space from the City of New Richmond, was housed in the same facility as the New Richmond Fire Department at 212 E. First St. Both departments were out of space and the city asked the ambulance service to move out.
While the idea to share the building with the fire department might have been great back in the 1970s, the current situation was less than ideal for the department’s 36 staff members, Melby has said.
Most of the department’s staff is volunteer, and about half live out of the set response area, which means they live at the station while on call.
The new building is estimated about 8,100 square feet, compared to the former building’s 3,400 square feet, and includes a front entrance for the public, apparatus floor, day room for the crew, five bunk rooms, a meeting room, offices, storage space and separate restrooms (with showers) for men and women.
Melby said the crew still spends the majority of their time in the day room.
“They’re still figuring out what to do with all the space,” he joked.
The new, fully functioning kitchen hadn’t been tested as of Monday, but Melby said most of the crew is excited about it.
“We didn’t have a kitchen at all before,” he said.
Additional, and welcome, changes include showers in the restrooms and building heat.
“It’s much warmer here than it was at the old building,” Melby said.
The ambulances’ new home is also bigger and better, Melby said.
Before, the ambulances were housed too close to each other, making it hard for crew members to get around them. Now, each ambulance has breathing room and oversized bay doors will allow the department to house bigger ambulances in the future, if needed.
The new ambulance bays face south, which allows for the public to enter the new building through the door facing the road.
A few open houses, including one during the Community Commons’ open house, are being planned at the new building, Melby said. No official date has been set for those open houses.