BERNARDSTON — It’s official. Bernardston’s new Fire Station at 167 Northfield Road is operational and ready to serve the community.

“We’re fully operational. The radios are all up, the phones are working, the computers are working, and all the trucks and gear is over there,” Fire Chief Peter Shedd said in an interview Monday morning. Additionally, the Emergency Operations Center is located at the new station, after moving from the Bernardston Police Station at 256 South St.

Shedd said 14 members of the Fire Department came together on Saturday to move some of the last pieces of equipment — including the trucks and fire gear lockers — into the new, 6,320-square-foot space from the old station at 18 Church St. and Valley Concrete & Construction, where vehicles that didn’t fit at the Church Street station were kept. The department took its first emergency call from the new station at 3:45 a.m. early Sunday morning, Shedd said.

To move to the new station without interrupting emergency services, Saturday was chosen ahead of time, and the move was completed with enough time so the department could still participate in the parade that afternoon to celebrate the Pioneer boys basketball team that won the state championship Saturday.

Now that the move is complete, Shedd said all six of the Fire Department’s vehicles — one ambulance, two brush trucks, two engines and a rescue truck — fit under one roof, eliminating the need to continue to use Valley Concrete & Construction for storage.

The 24.15-acre property at 167 Northfield Road was previously the home of Raymond’s Repair, which has moved to South Parrish Road in Winchester, New Hampshire.

The idea for a new Fire Station in Bernardston has been a long time coming, with price tags for a new or expanded building halting progress. Shedd has said a larger station would allow for a better emergency response amid rising call volumes. In 2023, the call volume was approximately 300, compared to the call volume in the 1970s at 30 to 40 per year when the Church Street station was first built.

In October 2017, a proposal to use $2.6 million to build a new station at 23 Kringle Drive was shot down by Town Meeting voters, sending the Fire Station Expansion Committee back to the drawing board.

There was another plan to expand the existing station rather than build an altogether new facility, but that was estimated to cost $4.58 million. The pandemic halted progress further until a more affordable option was approved by voters during a July 2023 Special Town Meeting. That vote authorized the town to purchase the former Raymond’s Repair shop — including the 6,320-square-foot building — for $1.6 million through payments of $130,000 over 10 years. A $300,000 downpayment was allocated to pay for repairs. Another $1 million was secured by U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern in March 2024.

With this move completed, Shedd explained the biggest change is the amount of space available for trucks, firefighting equipment and administrative supplies, along with extra space for training.

One of the next steps for the Fire Department will be working with the state Department of Transportation to get new signs posted, as well as adding a flashing red light outside the station that will activate to alert drivers when the fire trucks are responding to an emergency, now that the station is located on a 55-mph stretch of Route 10.

“Other than that, I think we’re just getting used to stuff and growing into it, getting everything set up,” Shedd said about the station. He added that a grand opening ceremony will be held later this spring to celebrate.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.