The doors shut on the Ararat Fire Station's building as the community knows it at the weekend, preparing for an exciting new phase.
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Volunteers were busy packing up the station at the weekend, preparing for its demolition to make way for a new station to be built.
The state government allocated $2.25 million to the construction of a new state of the art facility in March 2018.
Ararat Fire Brigade captain Rob Starick said the building process will commence in the coming months and should not take longer than a year.
"The station will become a building site, with the building to be demolished and new ones built," he said.
"We believe the construction process will be anywhere from eight to 12 months all going well."
The brigade will move its operations to old region headquarters at 390 Barkly Street while the new station is being built.
"We don't have the luxury of saying we'll stop for a week - we have to keep operational at all times so we have moved out of the old station and straight into our new home," Mr Starick said.
"We have let all neighbours know we are operating from there for the time being."
Mr Starick said a key difference the community will notice is the lack of a siren whenever there is an incident.
"We pulled the siren down when moving out of the station, for the next 12 months or so we will be without one," he said.
It was a bittersweet moment for volunteers packing up the station at the weekend, which had been home to Ararat's CFA since opening 49 years ago on August 8, 1970.
Mr Starick said the new station will help the brigade continue to provide valuable support to the community.
"We have just outgrown our station as it is. With this new station we have thought about not only what we need now but what we might need for the next 50 years," he said.
"There will be a little bit of pain for 12 months or so but there will be so many positives once the new station is good to go.
"We have looked at other stations in other areas to make sure what we have got is in line or better than what other stations have.
"The CFA has been really supportive in helping us in that process."
Mr Starick said with a bigger and better station on the way, he hopes to see more community members put their hand up to join the brigade.
"We are always looking for more volunteers. We believe our culture is great and its really unlike anything else you can do in the community," he said.
"We are happy to train people to help the community and with our new station we will have a great place to work from."
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