KEENE — Aside from anticipating the potential flooding Hurricane Sandy could cause early this week, the city fire department planned on spending the weekend moving into its new fire station.

“Our plan is to get everything moved over this weekend, and then Monday move the trucks over and go live,” said Fire Chief Gary Lamoureux on Friday.

Construction on the new fire station started in June 2011, but plans for the new station have been in the works since 1996. “When I had hair,” Lamoureux joked.

Chief for the past nine years, Lamoureux has spent his entire 34-year career in firefighting in the Keene department.

The project costs total about $6.5 million, Lamoureux said.

The new station sits on 31 Vernon St., directly across the street from the old station at 32 Vernon St.

Space, safety and functionality were all issues that drove the city to replace the old fire station that was built by the city in 1895 to accommodate then firefighter’s mode of transportation — horse and buggy.

The building is 28,000 square feet, compared to the old 21,000-square-feet fire station.

“But the difference is the amount of usable space. The door openings are bigger so we can get our trucks in and out without hitting them. The weight limits on the floors in here, that’s one of our biggest problems,” Lamoureux said.

In the new fire engine bay, large yellow exhaust hoses hang from the ceiling. These hoses attach to the trucks while inside the bay so that the exhaust fumes are not released into the bay and inhaled by firefighters, a feature that is not in the old fire station.

“We’re trying to keep it as healthy as we can for everyone,” Lamoureux said.

And for the first time the Keene Fire Station will meet Homeland Security regulations, Lamoureux said, including a main entrance that requires visitors to be buzzed in as well as security cameras throughout the building.

“We just can’t have people walking in the doors and wandering around,” he said.

The new station also has several fire training features such as a tower for high-rise response and a manhole for underground rescues. In the long, run these features will save the department on trainings costs.

“Training is a big part of fire service,” Lamoureux said.

The new fire station has 10 bunk rooms on the second floor with a pole from the first to the second floor for quick response.

“Everybody asked us since we started, ‘You got a fire pole? You got a fire pole? You got a fire pole?’ Yes, we have a fire pole,” Lamoureux said.

The station also has a full kitchen so firefighters can prepare and eat healthier meals, and also cook for a large number of people during emergencies such as a the potential response to Hurricane Sandy, Lamoureux said.

“Functionality wise, I don’t think we missed anything,” he said.

Despite all the improvements from the old station, Lamoureux said, the move is bittersweet.

In 1997 the city began renting space out of the old N.H. National Guard Armory in West Keene to cover that district. But the Vernon Street Central Station built in the 1800s has been the only city built station.

“It’s mixed emotions. This is the only building that the city of Keene has ever built for its fire department and that was in 1885. So there’s a lot of mixed emotions. But it’s time to move for the safety and health of the firefighters,” Lamoureux said.

mpierce@newstote.com