It has taken more than five years of planning and preparation, but the Central Cass Fire Department finally put a shovel in the ground at the site of its new fire station on Michigan 60, just outside of the village limits last Thursday.

The department, along with its fire board and officials from LaGrange and Jefferson township, broke ground on the new fire station, which could be completed as soon as Christmas, weather permitting.

Central Cass Fire Chief Jeff Locke was beginning to think the day would never come.

“It feels good and is nice to actually get going on it,” he said. “The fire board has been working on it for more than five years now. It has been a long time coming.”

Locke is hoping the weather hold out so that his department can get out of its current firehouse, which sits across from the historic county courthouse and was built in 1885.

“If everything goes well and the weather holds out it will happen,” Locke said. “I do not think it has sunk in yet just because we have been close so many times. It is exciting. It will be nice to get it done. It has been there a long time and we have outgrown it.”

Cassopolis Fire Board member and LaGrange Township Supervisor Rob Wright is also pleased to finally get the project under way.

“This has been years and years of a lot of hard work,” Wright said. “Since the groundbreaking is today, we are hoping to be in the building by Christmas. It has been a lot of hard work by a lot of individuals, including an inter-local fire agreement between LaGrange and Jefferson townships, which includes the Village of Cassopolis. Flena Rubalcaba from the fire board has been a tremendous help. The fire chief Locke and his crew have been non-stop meeting and working hard to get this done. Everyone was pulling the fire hose in the same direction.”

The cost of the facility is $469,552. The department has also purchased a new fire truck for $528,353, which should arrive by the end of the month or early November.