It took 16 months to build the Clermont Fire Station before its opening in 1959. The building was built in reinforced concrete by J Hutchinson & Sons and features a kitchenette, originally designed as a board room; an office, originally a store room; a large storeroom, which was originally the living quarters; and at the very rear of the building, men’s & women’s showers and toilets. This area was originally the bath and toilet block, and a ‘modern kitchen’ which in 1959 included a ‘refrigerator, an electric stove, a stainless steel sink and built in kitchen cupboards’.
The most prominent feature of the building however is the ‘appliances room’, the huge open space where the town’s fire engines sat proudly in anticipation. In its original state, the appliances room was accessible by two by two large bi fold doors at the front of the building and at the rear. These have since been replaced by large roller doors. Access to the concrete apron at the back of the station and the lane linking Daintree St to the building is via duplicate roller doors. The freehold block is 344 square metres in total.
Built at an estimated cost of £11,740.00 and opened on Saturday 21st November 1959, by the Member for Mackenzie the Honourable Neville Thomas Edward Hewitt, the building was considered a ‘great acquisition to the town being situated, as it is, in the middle of the shopping centre in the main street‘. The ‘modern lines’ of the building were described as being a ‘pleasing addition to the facade of Capella Street.’
A foot note at the end of the news article heralding the opening of the ‘new’ station, reminds the people of Clermont that trials of the siren system will be carried out. Even new residents to the town have experienced the siren ring out on the regular Thursday night practice sessions, or to alert the volunteers to an incident requiring their presence. Despite new technology replacing the siren, it is still a reassuring sign for the town’s residents knowing that the old siren still works if required.