In front of a dug out pit and an architect’s rendering, Temple Fire and Rescue Chief Lonzo Wallace, Mayor Bill Jones III and several other city officials broke ground Wednesday for Fire Station No. 3 located on Midway Drive.

“It’s a very special day,” said Wallace, before he and several officials grabbed their symbolic shovels and turned dirt.

The groundbreaking comes less than a month after City Council approved on Dec. 18 a $905,729 maximum price contract, with Baird-Williams Construction of Temple, to build the new 7,632 square-foot station.

The new station, to be completed by the end of August, will house a regular firefighting unit and a four-man hazardous materials team, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“I know that the fire department will be great neighbors,” Jones said of the new station being located on the corner of a residential neighborhood.

City Manager Mark Watson said: “We’re really proud of this opportunity.” The opportunity came in September 2002 when Temple voters approved $3.52 million in bonds for Fire and Rescue facilities and equipment, along with $12.7 million for the Temple Police Department Downtown Public Safety Complex and Municipal Court renovations.