Oregon fire district on track with $4.2 million construction project

The Oregon fire protection district is right on schedule, three weeks into a $4.2 million construction project. 

“I’ve got nine full-time people that are working for me and they’re my family,” shared fire chief Michael Knoup. 

The station has full-time staff 24 hours. Knoup said that’s why the department needed a larger facility to better accommodate the staff.

The renovations include office and living space quarters, and garage spaces for more fire trucks and ambulances.

“Currently, two blocks down the street, we have another building that we keep our boats in our wild land apparatus, our fire trucks for grass fires. We’ll be able to put those all into one building to decrease our response time,” explained Knoup.

Oregon resident Skyler Kelley said she feels safer with the station’s expansion. 

“If they’re able to expand their equipment and their department themselves, I feel like that’ll be more beneficiary to the town itself and not just the department,” said Kelley. 

Knoup believes this project is important for his people. 

“My goal is to take care of them so they can take care of the general public,” said Knoup.