Chief: Public Safety Substation Grand Opening Slated for September

North Strabane fire Chief Mark Grimm said "odds and ends" are the only things left to complete at the —and said a grand opening celebration is slated for sometime in September.

He said he hopes the department will be able to coordinate the opening to coincide with 9/11.

Grimm said the opening of the substation was delayed while water service was extended to the building.

Township officials had

The substation, which will house public safety operations, will help better protect residences and commercial structures in the area near , officials have long maintained.

“There are (more than) 1,000 homes in that area there,” Siffrinn has said, adding that the township had been concerned about response time when the principal owners of the casino offered up the property on Johnson Road several years ago.

He said the 1.2 acres of property would have easily sold for about $100,000—but that the owners of The Meadows Racetrack & Casino instead donated it to the township for the construction of the substation.

It will house fire equipment, office space and other amenities for emergency responders, which isn’t without its challenges.

The challenge for the department, Siffrinn said, will be manning the facility so it is open 24-7.

—something that could help alleviate that challenge.