No local officials got together to cut any ceremonial ribbon with an oversized set of scissors.

Nevertheless, even without a formal ribbon cutting, work quietly got under way Aug. 26 on the new Northshore Fire Station going up in Kenmore and due to open in October 2010, according to Fire Chief Tom Weathers.

Weathers said the board of directors for Fire District 16 looked at several locations, but as many might know, Kenmore’s firefighters won’t be moving far at all. Crews are clearing the way for the new 30,000-square-foot structure just across the street from the existing fire station at the intersection of 73rd Avenue Northeast and Northeast 181st Street.

“Everything just seemed to fall into place,” Weathers said of the location for the new department headquarters. “I’m not going to say it was destiny, but it really just seemed to work out.”

Voters twice approved a bond issue supporting the new station, which carries a construction price tag of about $9 million. Weathers said not enough voters went to the polls in order for the first vote to receive certification, even though the issue passed. The second attempt attracted both enough voters and enough positive ballots to be certified in February 2008.

Seeming genuinely excited about the prospect of a new home for his unit, Weathers believes there are any number of reasons the new station is needed.

Weathers said most obviously, the current 17,000-square-foot structure is too small. It was built in the 1960s, apparently with an addition added sometime in the ’80s. Still, that addition apparently did not, in the long run, add enough.

He also mentioned the building’s roof leaks, that it’s heating and cooling system leaves something to be desired.

Finally, Weathers said the building is not up to the seismic standards required of public safety buildings. While it remained standing, the current station suffered damage during the Nisqually earthquake in 2001.

“In a real emergency, it wouldn’t do to have your (fire station) pancaked,” Weathers quipped.

He also noted the new building will meet the requirements of the federal Department of Homeland Security. For the first time, fire officials will be able to track exactly who is in their building and be able to much better control access, even having the ability to lock the building down if need be. Weathers again joked, saying he couldn’t see Kenmore’s fire station ever becoming the object of a terrorist plot, but said the new station will meet all federal rules in that regard.

Weathers said before settling on a new location, the fire board and local officials seriously considered remodeling the existing station. They decided the idea simply was not practical. They also considered separate locations for administrators or training facilities, but in the end, concluded it made more sense to keep those operations under one roof.

Some features of the new station may seem somewhat surprising. Weathers said he felt gaining environmental certification for the station would have been too costly. Still, the structure will make use of numerous green building features, most notably being wired for the solar panels Weathers hopes will one day be installed on the roof.

Other perhaps unexpected aspects of the building include some public art in the form of metal firefighter bugles, some of which will sit in the station lobby. Resembling bullhorns, actual firefighter bugles once were used to give orders at fire scenes. The number of bugles on a firefighter’s uniform indicated that person’s rank. The new building also will feature some etched windows.

Serving both Kenmore and Lake Forest Park, the Northshore Fire Station will have room for 14 on-duty firefighters, as well as administrators. Training rooms are included in plans, along with meeting space and a community room.

“It’s been an interesting process, to say the least,” Weathers said of the planning process for the new station. He also said it was a team effort between the fire board, the cities involved and the public.

Those interested can see updated construction pictures as the project moves forward at www.northshorefire.com.