Former Carson City firehouse to come down

The 51-year-old Carson City Fire Station that for years housed the all-volunteer Warren Engine Co. and later the Carson City Fire Department is slated for demolition this year after being left vacant for much of the past decade.

The fire house at the southeast corner of West Musser and Curry streets became obsolete when Carson City Fire Station No. 1 on South Stewart Street opened in 1994. The state later purchased the building and the old Ormsby County Courthouse for $715,000 to house the Nevada Attorney General's Office.

The attorney general is now in the courthouse and the fire station is used mostly for storage. Soon it will be gone altogether, with a parking lot in its place.

A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office said the fire station site will likely only remain a parking lot for a couple years. By then, the attorney general will need the corner lot for more office space.

While firefighters hailed the move to the more modern, comfortable building in 1994, many will likely gather Thursday for a kind of good-bye barbecue to the longtime fixture of the Carson City streetscape.

The Warren Engine Co., for which the station was built in 1954, is still around today. The 142-year-old volunteer organization serves as a backup to the Carson City Fire Department.

State Public Works Board Manager Dan O'Brien said work will probably start soon on the building, although it might be a while before it actually comes down - there's a bit of an asbestos problem that needs to be addressed first, he said.

The Attorney General's Office has been told to have all files and furniture out of the building by the beginning of July.

- Contact reporter Cory McConnell at cmcconnell@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.