Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A ribbon cutting was held Monday morning to celebrate the completion of the new state-of-the-art Green Oak Township fire headquarters building.

The new facility was years in the planning and replaces the old Station 81, located off Whitmore Lake Road, just north of Silver Lake Road and west of US-23. It will eventually be demolished as part of the re-alignment of roads and new roundabouts in the area by MDOT.

The new station is located somewhat behind the current station, next to the new police headquarters building to create a public safety complex.

The fire department has an extremely large call volume that only continues to increase – especially with increased growth and the US-23 corridor.

Monday’s event was geared toward stakeholders and township officials but a public open house will be held in the spring once contractors finish up some punch-list items.

Fire Chief Kevin Gentry told WHMI they moved in about a week and a half ago and have been working out of the new station 24-7.

The building is designed to be a 50-year-old building and last through Green Oak’s growth phase until it becomes a fully populated area. It can also house more full-time firefighters, as well as on-call.

Gentry said the station is also located in the center of the township – something they’ve never had before. He said they now have the ability to have 24-7 crew in the center of the township that's able to go to all directions.

Previously, the department had 24-7 crews on two sides but nothing in the middle and some areas were hard to get to. Gentry said now, all areas are within four minutes of a fire station.

The new stations also feature a state-of-the-art training room with audio and visual capabilities that can actually fit and seat everyone – whereas it was standing room only at the old station for trainings.

A tower hose located on the side of the building has multiple functions. It not only dries fire hose but serves several training purposes including for window rescues, stair climbing, hose stretching, technical rescue work and other operations.

The department is also at the forefront in some areas that residents and businesses might not be aware of. It is the only department in the county with a full-time mechanic resulting in big savings for the township, and also utilizes a special foam to fight fires more quickly and efficiently – the CAFS or Compressed Air Foam System.

Gentry said they use it on 100% of all fires, which not many departments do, and they were the first in the county. He said the system is expensive and hard to maintain but the Department’s full-time mechanic takes care of the system so that it is reliable and functional every day.

As for how it works, Gentry explained that the system takes not only the water normally used to put out fires but also foam and bubbles that allow it to smother as well as pool a fire. He stressed that it is not PFAS foam and very environmentally safe – noting fish can swim in it. Gentry said it basically allows a room to be filled with water to cover the fire and bubbles to smother the oxygen to put fires more quickly.

With the new station, Gentry said they’ll finally be able to get full advantage of their mechanic it has a maintenance bay that allows the cab of fire trucks and engines to be lifted.

Previously when their mechanic had to do something involving lifting the cab - which Gentry said is most things with their engines, he had to work outside regardless of the weather and then somehow get the vehicle back in at the end of the day to secure it. Now for multi-day operations, such as changing a radiator or a transmission – the mechanic can lift the cab in the station, work on it, and get it back in service right away. Gentry said another advantage of having a full-time mechanic is that when something breaks, they can call him in whether it be nights or weekends.

The new station is funded through a bond issue approved by voters and Gentry thanked the citizens for entrusting them with the funding. He said they’ve spent the funds well and were able to stretch the money using a number of different approaches for the building and the purchase of a much-needed aerial ladder truck and a tanker truck. Part of that was aided by a federal grant through Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin’s Office.

Gentry said they are more than happy to show the new station to anyone who wants to see it and they are welcome to stop by during business hours between 9am and 5pm – stressing that it is the “public’s building” and they want them to see what they invested in.