Ground broken on long-awaited new Dashwood fire station
By Dan Rolph
Construction on a new fire station that will serve Dashwood and the surrounding area has officially begun, bringing the community one step closer to the end of a years-long effort to replace its aging firehall.
Local representatives, firefighters and members of the community gathered Sept. 14 at the former Dashwood baseball diamond on Centre Street South, where the new station is being constructed, to mark the occasion.
Council awarded the tender for the fire station’s construction to AUBI/Agri-Urban Building Inc. for about $4.1 million in June 2026. The bid was the lowest of 14 submitted for the project, with the most expensive bid coming in at about $7 million.
The project’s price tag came in about $600,000 over what was initially earmarked for the station’s construction. The municipality is paying for the new station with about $2.17 million in debt financing. Additionally, about $1.3 million is coming from the fire capital replacement reserve and $665,000 is being pulled from the turbine reserve fund.
The new Dashwood fire station will replace the existing Roland Street station once it becomes operational. The existing Dashwood station was built in 1954, and staff noted several concerns as reasons for its replacement, including minimizing exposure to carcinogens for firefighters and a lack of space on the property for expansions to accommodate modern firefighting vehicles.
The Dashwood fire station is one of two stations operating in South Huron, with the other in Exeter. The municipality permanently closed the Huron Park station in 2021 after the discovery of hazardous substances such as asbestos inside. Huron Park firefighters were then moved to the two remaining stations in the municipality.
The new Dashwood fire station is expected to open in April 2027.
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