IT'S the end of an era. The doors of the Albion Park Fire Station will close for the final time today.
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Crews from the station will move into a new station in Albion Park, with upgraded facilities to cater for a 24/7 roster and an expansion of the station's reach to Albion Park, Tullimbah and Calderwood.
While the move is exciting for crew members, Albion Park Fire Brigade captain Robert Orr said he was sad to close the doors for the final time after training and working at the facility for 38 years.
"I joined in 1976 and this is the only station I have ever known," he said.
"I have been looking through the old photos to get ready for the move and looking at them again has brought back so many wonderful memories.
"Crew members from here have been involved in some of the major fire events in the Illawarra throughout the late 70s and 80s, including the bushfires of 1984, the Wollongong floods, and the Helensburgh fires where we were out for 16 days."
The historic station was built in 1972.
Currently fire crews man the station part time and operate on an on-call roster.
"The new station will allow us to have quicker response time and expand to cover a wider area," Mr Orr said.
"It will have the sleeping facility so it can be manned 24/7 and we will back up Shellharbour Fire Brigade and provide the community with a better service, so it's exciting."