New Fire Station 4 in north La Crosse opens its doors to visitors on Thursday

Firefighters in La Crosse are already using the city’s newest fire station on Gillette Street. On Thursday, the fire department will show off that big new firehouse, built next to the old Station 4, during an open house between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the new station happened a year ago this week. On that occasion, Fire Chief Jeff Schott talked about how the new building would improve on the 1940’s station it replaced.

“One of the things you’ll see most notably is that we need space to train, and also to keep our equipment,” said Schott, “and we only have the ability to have one fire engine in this house.” The new station contains four bays for fire trucks. It is much larger and more modern than the old station on Gillette, which had been used for about 80 years.

The city is trying to find buyers for both the old Station 4 on Gillette, and the former Station 2 on Monitor Street. Station 2 was dedicated a year ago next to Coate Hall on the UWL campus.