Cloquet Area Fire District Looking to Build New Facility

CLOQUET, Minn.– The chief of the Cloquet Area Fire District said, it’s beyond time for a new headquarters because the current one is falling apart, packed beyond capacity and a safety concern.

The current fire station downtown was built decades ago and no longer meets the standards required for modern emergency responses.

The Cloquet Area Fire District serves well beyond the city of Cloquet.

The full-service emergency response agency covers places like Burnett, Brookston, Saginaw, down to Big Lake, Scanlon and Sawyer.

Fire Chief Jesse Buhs told FOX 21 the proposed new station would be 35,000 square feet from the current 19,000 square feet.

“So, we’re going to utilize 13 and a half acres that was donated to us a number of years ago. It’s on the corner of 22nd street and highway 45 down across from the paper mill. And we’ve already invested a significant amount of money in planning for that site. We’ve developed building plans and we’ve done some site testing,” said Fire Chief Jesse Buhs, Cloquet Area Fire District.

Over the past 15 years the Chief said The Cloquet Area Fire District has gone from 1,500 calls a year, to nearly 3,400 annually.

“And so changing demographics, and changing demand, and increased demand for ambulance responses and fire rescue responses. It’s caused us to add staffing and add equipment. And as we add that staffing and equipment, and it isn’t sustainable in our current building,” explained Chief Buhs.

The Cloquet Area Fire District is holding several open houses and town hall meetings to get public input on the project.

Station tours are happening February 10th and 11th.

And a public hearing at the Carlton County Government Building is happening February 12th at 6 in the evening.

The estimated cost sits at 18 million dollars, and construction is expected to start in August.