West Bend will open its new $24.7 million Fire Station #1 with a grand opening and open house, marking the debut of a facility years in the making.
A Bigger, Purpose-Built Headquarters
The new station spans 44,000 square feet and sits on what used to be the Johnson Bus property, a 12-acre parcel near highways 33 and 45, per the same outlet's earlier coverage of the project. It replaces the department's longtime home at 325 N. 8th Ave., which served the community for nearly 60 years before officials raised concerns about its functionality and condition, prompting the city to approve this project.
City officials say the former headquarters had grown outdated, citing aging infrastructure, insufficient space for modern emergency vehicles, and facilities that no longer met the health and safety needs of a growing full-time department. The new building is designed to support emergency response, firefighter training and daily operations for West Bend's fire and emergency medical services, the city says. Officials also say the department can now reach more than 94% of its coverage area within four minutes of a call from the new location.
The old station was built when the department was much smaller: a city fact sheet says it originally served a department made up of 14 volunteer firefighters, two full-time lieutenants and a fire chief. The building also began as a joint police-and-fire station, underscoring how the department’s needs have changed over the decades. West Bend’s project fact sheet says the structure could not be cost-effectively updated or expanded to meet current needs.
Training Tower Aims To Keep Crews Closer To Home
Among the station's standout features is a four-story training tower with on-site burn rooms, alongside modern living quarters, safe bays and room for future growth. On-site training can reduce travel for some training activities.
How The City Is Paying For It
The project was funded through municipal borrowing combined with a $1.2 million grant from the Wisconsin non-state grant program.
The grant comes through Wisconsin’s Grants for Local Projects program, which supports construction projects with a statewide public purpose. The program requires applicants to have non-state funding for at least half of a project’s total cost; it also gives the state an ownership interest equal to the grant and imposes a 20-year land-use restriction. Those conditions are part of the program’s accountability rules, not a separate estimate of the station’s overall cost. Wisconsin’s grant program rules explain the requirements.
The estimated tax impact for the median West Bend homeowner is $78 per year.
Old Firehouse's Next Chapter
Once the department relocates, the vacated firehouse at 325 N. 8th Ave. is slated to become the Midwest Museum of Firefighting. The organization behind the project says it aims to transform the soon-to-be-vacated building into a cultural destination and hopes to open its doors to the public in 2027, built around a donated collection known as the Midwest Museum of Firefighting's Venerable Fire Collection.
The proposed museum’s centerpiece has been housed nearby in Slinger: the Venerable Fire Collection describes itself as a private museum of firefighting apparatus, equipment and memorabilia dating to the 1800s, and says its mission includes education and preserving fire-service history. The collection is also the planned foundation for the West Bend museum’s exhibits. Its organizers say the former firehouse project is intended to make the artifacts accessible to a wider public, with an opening goal of 2027. The Venerable Fire Collection’s history and mission and the Midwest Museum’s plans detail the connection.
