Groundbreaking held for building that will serve south Bannock County with fire station, city hall, sheriff substation and more
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MCCAMMON — City and county officials broke ground on a new fire station for an underserved area Wednesday.
The groundbreaking for the McCammon City Hall Fire Station marked the beginning of the building’s construction. This station will become home to the McCammon’s city offices, volunteer firefighting force, sheriff substation and possibly a staffed ambulance.
“I’m so thrilled to see this finally get started,” said Mayor Karlene Hall.
The ambulance at the station is more of a question of when and not if. The building will be ready to house one because it was designed with growth in mind.
“It needs to last for the next 40 years. So what can happen in that timeframe? We thought we could end up with paid firefighters and particularly a staffed ambulance,” said Aaron Hunsaker, the McCammon City Council president and project manager.
The city began working with the county to get a new fire station after it was awarded a grant through the Idaho Rural Partnership that accesses the needs of a city.
“A big thing that came out of it was how dire our need for a fire station was and the need for EMS,” Hunsaker said.
Once the planning began, officials realized they could expand it to move City Hall there as well. Doing so will allow them to turn the current facility into a community center.
Through more conversations with the county, they realized that the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office was in need of a substation. Sheriff’s deputies patrol South Bannock County but don’t have an office in the area.
The building is expected to be completed by spring 2025. Once finished, it will be a joined city hall, fire station and sheriff substation.
The project was funding by a combination of a bond, block grant, Bannock County and an appropriation from Congress, sponsored by Congressman Mike Simpson. The cost of the project came to $4.7 million.
Commissioner Jeff Hough, who grew up in McCammon, spoke about his excitement at the groundbreaking.
“This is such an exciting day for me. It’s an example of what can happen when communities come together,” Hough said.
Pocatello Fire Chief Ryan O’Hearn spoke to the how this station will expand services for residents of south Bannock County.
“This is going to be an incredible advancement for services in south county as a whole,” O’Hearn said.
Bannock County Sheriff Tony Manu said that he remembers looking at the designs for the building early on and hoped it would materialize.
“So I’m excited, and I’m excited for the south county to advance towards these emergency services which are really needed,” Manu said.
“It’s been a huge amount of work for so many people. So it’s gratifying that all that work is actually accomplishing what we set out to do,” Hunsaker said.