Progress continues on the new $4.1M Public Safety Center in Winfield on Aug. 9, 2021. (Photos by Brady Bauman)
Construction of a new $4.1 million facility for Winfield fire and police is showing visible progress.
City Manager Taggart Wall told KSOK-NewsCow Wednesday
“The main visual statement at this point — and really, at the end of the project — will be the training tower, which is a state of the art facility, actually designed to flow water inside,” Wall said during a live radio interview. “There are anchor points for rescue training as well as repelling both inside and outside the tower, and that’s critical.”
Wall said Winfield firefighters travel to Wichita for such tower training, but will be able to go through those exercises in house once the new Public Safety Center is complete.
“We fully expect that other departments will be coming to share that with us and to use it,” Wall said. “And we think everyone will be better for it.”
Wall said the training tower design takes cues from existing and surrounding architecture in Winfield.
The current station, built in 1886 and added onto in 1931, is said to be one of the oldest stations west of the Mississippi still in active use, according to information released by the City last summer in regards to the new facility construction.
The current apparatus bays require that the City purchase special made vehicles that will fit through the 1886 designed openings and structure design. The proposed addition’s new apparatus bays are designed for the future and will be conducive to the larger vehicles of today’s fire and ambulance services.
Winfield voters overwhelmingly approved the construction of a new facility in 2019 with 87 percent in favor, Wall said.
Wall said construction should finish by Spring 2022.
