Later this week a structure that has served the community for about 40 years will be reduced to rubble and hauled away.

The old trailer that housed the Fountain Hills Fire Department on Palisades Boulevard is being removed to make way for an expansion of the main structure.

According to Fire Chief Randy Roberts the demolition work is expected to begin on Friday, Sept. 20.

The trailer housed fire crews until the new station was built in 1991. Since that time it has been used as a training facility and storage. Most recently it was quarters for an ambulance crew posted at the station. The building has been vacant for about six months after the ambulance crew was moved to Station No. 2.

After removal of the trailer construction will begin on a 1,400-square-foot expansion to the main fire station. The addition will be built off the north side of the truck bays.

While on-duty firefighters currently bunk in the same room, the new addition will provide four individual rooms for firefighters to bunk.

There is a separate bunk room and office for the on-duty captain.

The plans also call for separate men’s and women’s restrooms and showers. Roberts said the men’s and women’s facilities have not been adequately separated in the existing facility. That has reduced the opportunity for women to serve as firefighters in Fountain Hills.

The new addition also includes a laundry room for a washer and dryer.

The existing bunk room will be used to house the ambulance crew that will be moved back after construction is completed.

The plans for the site also include some new landscaping and sidewalk adjacent to the new quarters. Plans to add a sidewalk and upgrade landscaping in the front of the station along Palisades Boulevard were eliminated due to budget constraints.

Plans for re-painting the entire fire station were in the original bid, but were removed from the project. Painting will be done, but the money will come from the building maintenance budget, according to Roberts.

Some infrastructure modifications at the site have been completed including the relocation of communications equipment and air quality and weather monitoring stations at the site operated by Maricopa County.

Roberts said the new addition should be ready to move into early in 2014.