MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - After years of planning and finally building, the new Central Fire Station in Meridian Township is finally up and running so I decided to stop by and take a look around with Fire Chief Fred Cowper to get the inside look.

He began the tour by introducing me to the new and improved card readers they have at each entrance of the station.

"These are the card readers here," said Chief Cowper as he scans his card to open the main entrance door.

"If some group wanted to use the building from 6-8:00 at night, we can program these doors to open at 5:30 then lock at 8:30 so we don't have to give them a card and we don't have to be here."

We then took a stroll down the hallway where the offices of the Administrative Assistant, Fire Inspector, EMS Chief as well as Battalion Chief work, and then we made our way into the new conference room where Chief Cowper gave me the scoop on the luxurious chairs that were in the room.

"I said ya know…this chair is really comfortable."

He also mentioned that they were originally $1300!

"I said joking around ya know I was gonna offer you $300 bucks a piece for them and she said 'ok, we'll steam clean them and deliver them to you' & they're like brand new."

After a few laughs, he led me into his office where he showed me a few items that were of significance to him. Items like an antique clock passed on from his father, as well as an authentic fire hydrant table created by his son.

"My son had it sandblasted and then he got the glass for the table, put it all together and brought it here," Cowper said with a large grin across his face.

We then made our way into the apparatus room where all the station's vehicles are parked.

I asked the Chief how many firetrucks and ambulances are available at the station and his response was:

"This station will have two ambulances, a truck and the battalion chiefs vehicle."

Chief Cowper also showed me the Company Officer's room which is located inside the apparatus room as well.

"Captains, lieutenants, acting lieutenants, people who are in charge use this room."

What the Chief was really excited about however, was their new laundry facility which included a washing machine specifically to clean their fire gear.

"Now we can put our turn out gear in this machine, wash it and in 4 hours put it back on. It makes it easier, safer, better for health reasons and this machine in a couple years will pay for itself."

Chief led me upstairs in the apparatus room where an air compressor is stored and explained to me what that is used for.

"This machine here is very heavy and it compresses the air, it's then shot downstairs to the machine downstairs where the air bottles go in. This is the air we breath whereas the oxygen is what they (referring to firefighters) give people that need it. We have to buy the oxygen but we can make the air to go in these bottles."

We made our way back down the stairs where Chief Cowper showed me the firefighters living headquarters, exercise room, as well as their new kitchen.

When I asked the firefighters in the room what they love most about their new & improved kitchen, this was their response:

"It's where we eat!"

I also checked out the community room that is available for the public and before I left, Chief Cowper insisted on showing me the station's new outside patio.

"They can hear all the calls out there," he assured me.

And the residents of Meridian Township will soon be satisfied with the response time provided due to this new and improved facility.