The McHenry Township Fire Protection District opened its last fire station a decade ago, at the cost of $4 million, Chief Rudy Horist said.

Since 2013, the fire district has also been planning a new, sixth station on the south end of McHenry, buying six acres at Shamrock Lane and Route 31 to for a future building.

“When we bought it, with a long-range financial plan, we started saving money to build a fire station there,” Horist said. “We have never borrowed money. We save for a new ambulance or tobuild a new fire station.”

But in the 10 years since Station 5 opened on Ringwood Road, construction prices have skyrocketed. The latest estimate for a new station comes in at $8 million, Horist said.

That is why the district is now looking at other options for its next fire hall, including purchasing the empty Ridgeview Electric, Inc., building inside the McHenry Corporate Center.

Fire board President Allen Miller said buying and rehabbing the building at 1400 Ridgeview Drive is currently estimated at $2 million, versus the $7 million to $8 million to build new.

A new fire station to serve the south end of the 56-square-mile district is not the only construction project officials are looking at.

The district is in the process of purchasing a three-acre strip of land from the city of McHenry, on Dot Street between the Amrise (formally Holcim Lafarge) gravel pit on Route 120 and the school bus barn. Plans are to construct a training facility there for the district’s 140 full- and part-time firefighters, Horist said.

The board of trustees is in the early stages of planing to build the training center. A timeline for either project is still up in the air, Horist said, adding that the district has not contracted with engineers or architects for either building.

Both projects came up at a McHenry planning and zoning commission meeting this week.

There are benefits to being inside the industrial park, Horist said. Emergency vehicles would be able to head north to Bull Valley Road or west to Route 31 to get to scenes.

A new, southern fire station would also help take the pressure off the two other fire stations in McHenry.

Station 1 is downtown, at Routes 120 and 31. Station 4 is at 6300 Dartmoor Drive, west of Curran Road.

If Station 6 opened today, it would answer 18% of the 8,137 calls for service the district responded to last year.

“It would be the second-busiest in our district,” Horist said.

The 7,000-square-foot Ridgeview Electric building already has the high overhead garage doors needed to get fire equipment in and out.

“It has a warehouse area ... that can be converted to an apparatus floor,” Horist said.

Miller said the building became available and would be “a big cost saving to the taxpayer.”

Having a training facility in the district would be a time saver, according to district management.

“Training is a very important part for our employees, to keep them safe. Now we have to send them out of district, and that means a station that is not covered,” while they train, Allen said.

Currently, the district’s firefighters often train in Wauconda or Huntley, as those districts have dedicated training facilities.

“It pulls our firefighters out of our fire district. Our guys are training when they are on duty and while those two departments are great [for training] it is pulling firefighters and resources out of or district” to train there, Allen said.

The district has also used the now-empty First Midwest Bank at 3510 W. Elm St. – across the street from Station 1 – for training.

But crews cannot burn or practice live fires there, and the building is likely to be sold for redevelopment at some point.

Horist envisions a structure where firefighters can do live-fire training, among other skills, while also using the property for storage. The fire district has set aside $1 million for the project, he said, but added the training facility could be built it phases if it helps keep costs down.

As the district has not yet contracted with a company to design the facility, “we don’t know what it is going to cost,” Horist said.

Once constructed, McHenry could offer the facilities to other area fire districts for training for a fee.

That isn’t to take away from the fire science training programs at McHenry County College, Horist said. That facility is geared toward college students getting their initial training on how to be a firefighter.

“We are not looking to compete with MCC, but we will benefit from having the dedicated training site,” Horist said.