Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

The downtown Brighton fire station will get a major improvement in the near future with City Council’s approval Tuesday night of a site plan to allow construction of a nearly 8,000-square-foot addition as well as renovation of the existing 10,500-square-foot dept. headquarters at 615 West Grand River.

Brighton Area Fire Dept. Chief Mike O’Brian told council that the department plans to have a 2-story addition built on the site of the current fire dept. headquarters. He says the current facility will be gutted and retro-fitted as part of the overall project.

O’Brian says the effort, called a “design-build”, will result in a fire dept. able to meet and exceed the demands and requirements of a 21st-Century fire dept. that serves 74 miles and over 74,000 residents, including the city of Brighton and two of the adjacent townships - Genoa and Brighton.

O’Brian told council that, in his words, “(The Brivar Construction Co.) has enabled us to to be really fiscally conservative, (and) their firm was able to guide us into about a million dollar savings.” The dept. has used the same firm on several other construction projects.

Total cost of the project will be $7.2 million, but O'Brian tells WHMI that a $1.3 million grant brokered by US Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D, MI) when she was a congresswoman will bring the final cost down to about $6 million. The endeavor will be funded via the voter-approved fire dept. millage.

O’Brian says all of the administrative offices will be located on the second floor of the addition. He adds the existing building, including the bays which house the fire engines, will be gutted and re-built.

In November of last year, voters approved a millage that increased the fire dept. millage rate from 1.5-mills to 2.75-mills over the next five years. The dept. is run by a 7-member fire authority board. Fire authority spending for fiscal 2024-25 totaled $6.4 million.

Besides the Grand River station in Brighton, the BAFD also has fire stations on Old US-23 and Weber St. in Brighton Twp. and on Dorr Road and Chilson Road in Genoa Twp. The department has 75 firefighters, and, according to O'Brian, is always looking for new firefighter candidates.

O’Brian says construction on the addition and renovation project is expected to start around Thanksgiving. Work will continue through the winter month and the project is expected to be completed in December of 2026.