By the end of the day, the Weldon Fire Department will have solved its housing woes for Station 1 for at least three months.

Inside the building.

Firefighters began cleaning out the old Basnight building on Highway 301 for the temporary location of the old fire station, which sustained heavy roof damage during Hurricane Irene.

It is a building Chief Rusty Bolt would love to have for the permanent location of the station, a decision that the insurance company and the town board will have to make.

The town board Tuesday approved the relocation with a three-month lease that will be taken care of by insurance, Bolt said this morning, as firefighters cleared items from the showroom of the former building supply company, which closed in December.

Whether Station 1 will be declared a total loss is something the chief is unsure of. The temporary location, he said, is the perfect home for a fire department in which Station 1 has been the primary home since 1962. “There's plenty of room for storage,” Bolt said. “It's a whole lot better location for getting trucks in and out of than Second and Sycamore streets.”

Weldon's biggest need for two fire stations is because of the train tracks which divide the town, tracks which see a constant flow of traffic during the day and night. “The biggest thing is the coal cars,” Bolt said. “You can sit there for 10 to 15 minutes. During a house fire in seven minutes a house can be fully engulfed.”

A fire engine is parked outside the building.

Response times of four minutes or less are also critical during EMS calls, Bolt said. “I would love to see us move in here, but that's up to the insurance company and the town board.”

Bolt said the fire department has to bring its air supply over as well as the generator from Station 1. It also has to make arrangements for a radio base station since its tower was also damaged in the storm. While the fire department will be operating from the station by this evening, Bolt said it will take about two weeks to get it up to par.

Bolt said the building has possibilities and has the same response time as the damaged station. “That's one reason I picked the location. If we move here permanently it would be a drive through fire station and I would share it with someone else like public works.”