LIVONIA — Pointe Coupee Fire District Four opened its new Livonia fire station on Thursday. 

The station, dedicated to the district's first chief, Joe Drago, was a long time coming. The land it sits on was first bought in 2009. 

The new station allows full-time, on-duty firefighters to be housed at the station alongside part-time and volunteer firefighters. 

More beds and training rooms will allow more space to be made available to expand services to other stations. It will also provide a place for other departments' firefighters and first responders to stay in the event of a hurricane or other emergency. 

Chief Paul Pinsonat says the expansion is about building a future.

"Thirty years from now, they can look back and say, 'You know we are glad we can build this station,' and not something they can't grow into. And that is how this station is built. We can grow into this station. We didn't build this for now, we built it for 20 years from now," Pinsonat said.