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Brian DiTullio photo

Mayor Ed Morgan, left, and Councilman Greg Gardner (center) look on as Architect Mike Uhler, right, points out some of the features of Carefree’s new fire station currently under construction. Councilman Gary Hayward is standing behind Morgan.
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Council tours Rural Metro construction site
by Brian DiTullio

CAREFREE – It’s mainly raw brick and scaffolding at the moment, but a new fire station for Carefree is rising rapidly from the ground at the northeast corner of Tom Darlington Drive and Lucky Lane.

Town officials took a brief tour of the construction site on May 1 with architect Mike Uhler of L.E.A. Architects based in Phoenix. Uhler gave the town council and administrative staff present a brief rundown on the kinds of materials used in the construction of the building.

Walking around the back, Uhler pointed out the trucks would enter the building from the rear, enabling them to just “take off right onto Tom Darlington,” he said.

A schematic of the building, provided for the attendees, shows a large apparatus bay, a physical training room, five dorms, a captain’s dorm and office, three restrooms, a day room, a community room, and a reception area.

Uhler said most of the concrete floor has been poured, but that the floor for the apparatus bay wouldn’t be poured until the roof was installed, explaining that the floor supporting the trucks needed to cure and set properly out of the Arizona sun.

The roof should be going up within the next few weeks, according to Uhler.

“Amazing,” said Councilman‑elect Bob Gemmill, surveying the construction. “This was just a piece of dirt a few weeks ago.”

The estimated completion date of the fire station is Oct. 3, but staff indicated construction is slightly ahead of schedule.

Uhler said L.E.A. Architects has been in business for more than 25 years and has built approximately 100 fire stations.

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