By Molly Sweeney and Ethan Oakley

Published: December 1, 2025, 8:21 PM CST

Updated: December 1, 2025, 8:21 PM CST

URBANA, Ill. — The Urbana community came together on Monday to mark the official opening of the city’s newest fire station with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Located at 1501 East Mumford Drive, Urbana Fire Station No. 2 welcomed visitors to explore its facilities and provided an opportunity for residents to meet the firefighters who will be serving in this state-of-the-art station.

Steve Doggett, Urbana’s Deputy Fire Chief, said the new station was designed to keep their firefighters healthy.

“Our ventilation will get rid of our carcinogens and cancer producing products that harm our firefighters. You can see above you, the extractor, the diesel exhaust extractor that will help get rid of that diesel soot that we won’t breathe in when we come in,” Doggett said.

Fire stations two and three — which are the stations being replaced — were built in the 60s and 70s. Previously, WCIA reported that the entire plan was expected to cost about $15.6 million dollars. Fire station two will be on East Mumford Drive and South Philo Road. Station three will be on Bradley and Goodwin Avenues.

The new stations will have new training spaces, solar panels and geo-thermal heating and cooling. The firefighters are scheduled to move into the new space on Thursday.

Urbana broke ground for the new fire stations in June of 2024.