Horwich firemen are ready for the move into a new £1m fire station next week.

The crews will begin operating from the new building on Monday, although the official opening will not take place until October. Building work on the new station, which stands on the site of the former station, built by Horwich Urban District Authority in 1939, began last July and has been completed on schedule.

It is a three bay station and provides modern training facilities as well as office and recreational accommodation. There are also showers and cleaning areas for the seven full-time firemen and some 15 part-timers. Female accommodation has also been included and a disabled toilet.

Senior Divisional Officer, Stewart Vann, the divisional commander of Bolton and Wigan, said the station was the most modern of the 41 in Greater Manchester and demonstrated the authority's commitment to the future of the brigade. "It is part of an on-going programme the authority have had over the past 23 years in the life of the brigade," he said. Coping stones from the old building have been used in the new, and the original stone bearing the date of the first fire station has also been incorporated.

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