West Central Fire District Bass Road build on indefinite pause pending fire district merger
Apr 03, 2025
ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) -- The West Central Fire District will not be building the $9 million expansion of the district to a new fire station off Bass Road, following the possible county-wide fire district merger.
In August of last year, the West Central Fire District announced the plan to buil
d a $9.5 million location off of Bass Road, to answer a slew of problems the district faced, from outdated facilities to answering the growing population.
While the expansion on Bass Road was still up in the air, many opposed the expansion voicing concerns for the location being so close to the train tracks.
David Guadnola, a board member with the West Central Fire District, told WANE 15 Thursday that the movement forward on the expansion to Bass Road was "sidelined, because the county-wide fire district is an eventual formation that's going to happen."
"There's no sense in building a brand new fire station when you don't yet know where the coverage holes will be on a county-wide fire," said Guadnola.
Guadnola said that if a Bass Road fire station makes sense on a county-wide level for coverage purposes, it would be built. "Building a new fire station just because you want a new fire station, just doesn't make sense."
Rich Beck, the District Three County Commissioner, said on a macro level, the building of a new station on Bass Road wouldn't fill the need for a county-wide map.
"Macro-level changes the complexion of where things go," said Beck.
Beck said the commissioners don't decide the final call, and that the decision goes back to the West Central Fire District board.
Beck said that changes to US 30 could also impact whether the Bass Road expansion could exist as INDOT works to finalize where intersections would go on the roadway.
County Commissioners voted at the beginning of March to bring in Purdue Fort Wayne researchers to develop a detailed plan for the potential merger of fire districts. While fire officials support the idea of consolidation, local leaders say they don’t have the time or resources to map out key details like funding, staffing, and emergency response logistics.
Now, the future of the Bass Road firehouse could lie in the hands of the findings of PFW researchers and the potential merging of districts. ...read more read less
