CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The City of Chesapeake has a new public safety building on the southern end of the city. It’s located off S. Battlefield Boulevard.
The more than 18,000 square-foot building is now home to Fire Station 7 and the 6th Police Precinct. First responders will serve people in Saint Brides and Hickory.
Chesapeake Fire Chief Ed Elliott said, “This is a big change for the firefighters, a lot more station to clean in the mornings too!”
The new building has three fire apparatus bays, firefighter living quarters, fire and police watch desks, a shared physical fitness training room, police department administrative offices, interview rooms, and a vehicle sally port.
Chief Elliott said, “Southern Chesapeake has changed a whole lot. The city has grown, and the Fire Department and Police Department has grown with the city.”
Elliott said the new building is greatly needed. The old fire station down the road on S. Battlefield Boulevard is more than 65 years old.
Chief Elliott said, “We did all that we can with that building and it was just time to move up to something larger.”
As for the police precinct, Chief Kelvin Wright said the traffic unit and officers with the crime prevention unit will work out of this building. When the police department grows, the plan is to have more officers work out of this new facility.
“It is important that we serve all of our community. This will shorten our travel distances for people who need to work with us, whether they are coming to meet with us, or we are going to meet with them,” explained Chief Wright. “We are very excited. This is the first facility we've had in about 20 years and that will mean we can respond quickly to our community,”
The new building will also have a library kiosk for people to take advantage of. Chesapeake library leaders said there will be a red box for people to pick books to read or you can rent a box online and pick it up here.
The new service will be available in a couple of weeks.