ODESSA, Texas — The Old Fire Station, sitting on 3414 Brentwood Drive, has been around since 1959.
When the new Fire Station 6 was built on 2110 Penbrook Street in 2022, it meant that the old station was decommissioned.
Now, it will be serving a new purpose.
The Old Fire Station 6 was sold to Megan Prado and Andrew Prado of Town & Country Drug earlier this year. On Tuesday, Odessa City Council approved an appropriation of the funds from the sale directly to Odessa Fire Rescue.
“The list is kind of endless," Odessa Fire Chief Jason Cotton said. "We have repairs at our stations that we need to do throughout the year all the time. Garage doors, garage door openers, regular doors, plumbing, I mean there's no telling how much.”
Over $250,000 will be going to OFR after the sale.
It'll come in handy when making the necessary repairs to the stations. Rescue workers can spend anywhere between 24 and 48 hours at the station at a time, making them essentially a second home.
“Anything we can do to alleviate or fix their homes, water heaters, AC's going out, anything like that, we want to keep those buildings up to date for them,” Cotton said.
Plus, keeping those buildings as up to date as possible while keeping everything in working condition will give rescue workers the opportunity to respond to situations quicker.
A benefit not just for them, but the communities they serve.
"It goes back to those buildings being their homes for 48 hours at a time per shift," Cotton said. "So anything we can do to make their homes more comfortable, the living spaces better. Anything to make them do their job better is what we want to do."