Less than one year after Aurora’s Fire Station Nine was demolished last year, a new fire station opened this week in its place.

In March, officials demolished the original firehouse, 17200 E. Mexico Ave., which was built in 1979 as a single-company house with one fire engine and a four-person crew, an Aurora Fire Rescue news release said. The station serves Ward III.

While Fire Station Nine was not the oldest fire station in Aurora, a facility assessment from 2016 showed the building lacked adequate space and showed signs of structural distress, officials said. The building also had cracks and gaps between walls and floors due to shifting soil.

Aurora’s oldest fire station is Station Four, which was built in 1966.

Station Nine was initially built with an open bunk room that was later converted into individual dorm rooms without doors, according to the news release.

While there were individual dorm rooms, it was not enough space to accommodate the number of firefighters using it and lacked the capacity for expansion, the release said.

In the old Station Nine’s place, a new two-story, 12,000-square-foot Station Nine opened this week with 11 dorm rooms, eight bathrooms, a fitness room and kitchen, dining space, a day room, offices and a double-length three-bay apparatus bay, the release said.

The new facility cost about $9.3 million, funded mostly through American Rescue Plan Act dollars, the release said.

While the facility went up over the last year, the crew out of Station Nine took up a temporary base at Station Eight.

AFR will celebrate the grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony open to the public from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 7, the release said. Officials will lead tours through the firehouse and let the public board a fire engine to meet firefighters.

While the opening is exciting, the demolition of the old building was sentimental for retired Aurora Fire Rescue Capt. Mike Ackman, who retired from Station Nine in 2018 and said it was his “home away from home.”

It was “bittersweet” to see the station demolished, he said in March, but he understands the necessary progress.

“It’s a place of family, it’s a place of friends, it’s a place of crew,” he said. “This place is kind of a shelter for us from the storm on the outside.”

At its spot in the middle of a neighborhood, the station would often have its doors open and firefighters would chat with neighbors over the fence and welcome passersby to look at the fire trucks, Ackman said. 

Inside, it was a place for firefighters to gather after tough calls and enjoy meals and coffee with their crew members, he said. 

While his memories of the old station are fond ones, the new station brings needed improvements, he said.