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ST. GEORGE — Facing increasing traffic congestion and a lack of space at its current location, city officials are planning to move Fire Station 1, the main hub of the St. George Fire Department, to a new location in the heart of the downtown area.
"We're looking at relocating our main station on 51 S. 1000 East down to that new property that we're looking at purchasing at where the LDS church is on 85 S. 400 East," St. George Fire Chief Robert Stoker recently told St. George News.
Earlier this month, the St. George City Council approved a purchase agreement with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the 400 East chapel for $1.1 million. The city will take on the demolition of the church building.
The 400 East chapel, which served Latter-day Saints in downtown St. George since the 1950s, was closed and vacated by the church in 2021 due to structural issues. Since then a fence has been set up around the property to prevent entry.
While not the city's first choice for the relocation of Station 1, a new location is nonetheless needed due to the growth of the fire department. Increasing traffic congestion on 1000 East between St. George Boulevard and 100 South — particularly during the months when neighboring Dixie State University is in session — also interferes with the department's ability to respond to emergencies in a timely manner.
"It makes it really difficult to get to calls a lot of the time," Stoker said.
City officials initially considered relocating Station 1 to a property owned by Dixie State, which would have initiated a trade as the university had been eyeing the location of Station 1 for its own ongoing expansion, Stoker said. Unfortunately, the property proved to be too small for the fire department's needs, he said.
