The Town of Amherstburg will be building a new fire station to replace Stations 1 and 3.
The new fire station will cost the town $11,330,407.58 and be near the Libro Credit Union Centre.
Fire Chief Bruce Montone says consolidating and relocating the fire station will improve response times throughout the community.
"Because we're a product of three former municipalities that amalgamated in 1998, the fire services were distributed based on old municipal boundaries rather than on a risk assessment," said Montone. "By having two stations in the right location we'll significantly improve our ability to respond to all of the community."
Many Amherstburg councillors voiced concerns over the costs of the project and the decision to consolidate two fire stations.
"I am totally against the removal of Fire Station 2 in the former Malden Centre area given the increase in population. I firmly believe the response time will be reduced, given the fact that the new firehall is further away from the nursing home, retirement home, high rises and the Boblo development," said Councillor Diane Pouget.
The construction tender was approved in a 4-3 vote at Monday night's council meeting.
"We have to get this done, the costs are only going to go up if we decide to delay," said Councillor Linden Crain. "There's many many benefits to adopting this model over a three-station model including the cost would be double, we'd have to hire 20 more firefighters"
Construction is set to begin shortly and is scheduled to be completed by August 31, 2025.