McKOWNVILLE — “Duty to community” is how Jim White described the work of McKownville’s volunteer firefighters.

White, who chairs the board for the McKownville Fire District, spoke on Friday morning at a groundbreaking ceremony for the new firehouse.

The $10 million firehouse will be built in the footprint of the old station at 1250 Western Ave. Residents had supported the project in April 2024 with 80 percent of the vote.

White recalled being grateful, when he joined the company, to those who had built the 58-year-old station that was recently demolished as he anticipated the latest generation of volunteers appreciating the new station for the next half-century.

The department was founded in 1918 and the McKownville volunteers currently answer about 275 calls each year.

The McKownville fire district, in addition to covering about 900 households and many small businesses in the hamlet up to the Albany city line, includes all of Stuyvesant Plaza and Executive Park, the Woodscape housing development, 45 percent of the University at Albany uptown campus, and a portion of Crossgates Mall.

“This is the conclusion of many years of planning,” White told the crowd on Friday morning.

In 2016, the department had a $3.2 million plan to double the size of its firehouse to nearly 13,000 square feet by adding a second story but, while voters supported the project, bids came back higher than budgeted so the project was a no-go.

Being Scottish and frugal, White said, he had wanted to remodel the old station to save money.

But, White said, when he learned cancer was “the number-one killer of firefighters in the United States … I knew I had to do something.”

The new firehouse will have a fourth bay, a second floor, and safety features like a second public entrance so carcinogens can be contained.

White thanked the board, the building committee, and, to applause, the spouses — including his wife, Judy — who supported the effort.

Finally, he concluded, “Thank you to the McKownville residents.”

“It’s all you folks who really made it happen,” said Dennis Ross, practice leader at H2M architects + engineers.

Ross commended the committee he worked with in developing plans and trouble-shooting problems. “They used every single setback as an opportunity,” he said.

He commended the work being done by the general contractor, Bette & Cring, and predicted the new station “will be here at least 50 years.”

Ross concluded, “Let’s build this thing and get these firefighters out of the tent.”

“It’s a nice tent,” rejoined Chief Michael Costabile, who served as emcee for Friday’s event.

“You embody the best of this community,” State Senator Paricia Fahy told the firefighters and their families who sacrificed for their work.

“Never underestimate what a small group of people can do,” she said.

Fahy also said she was working to get funding for more research on the threats of carginogens that firefighters face.

“Firefighters are very smart,” said Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber.

He pointed to the excavation and earth-moving equipment behind him, noting, to laughter, that the ground had already been broken.

“We’ll photoshop out the hole in the ground,” rejoined Costabile of the groundbreaking pictures.

On a more serious note, Barber went on, addressing the volunteers, “The most important thing is the drive; it’s the commitment.”

Addressing the McKownville residents in the crowd at large, Baber said, “You guys back the people that need backing.”

With that, the golden shoves were lifted, first by officials, and then by the volunteer firefighters as dirt flew and cameras rolled.