Picking their way over rocks and boards, workers in hard hats range through a building newly bricked, with holes left for wires and an elevator.

Residents and business owners on Berwyn’s north side are expected to regain use of the 16th Street fire station in about two months. The north fire station, 6615 16th St., has been undergoing construction since spring, converting it from an outdated firehouse to a modern structure, enabling fire crews to better handle calls on the north side of town.

It should be fully operational by January, Assistant Fire Chief Frank Simek said. That’s one month off the December 2008 completion date first planned in spring.

“It’s going pretty well,” he said during a tour of the firehouse. “We’ve had some delays. We had some change orders with (the) soil.”

Some extra work was needed to improve the soil under the station after more than 80 years of use as the existing site of the north fire station. Originally estimated to cost $2.8 million, Simek said the price tag now is hovering around $3 million. But for the work needed, that cost overrun is small by comparison.

“I know stations out west paying $10 million (for a station),” Simek said.

The old station was built in 1925 and was too small and less efficient than needed for Berwyn’s current population. Workers began tearing down the building in March, and most of the work is complete on the main firehouse.

The roof is on and masonry work finished, and crews have been installing the stucco. Workers are waiting for Commonwealth Edison crews to install power lines and provide electricity to the building, Simek said. The station’s elevator will be added to the shaft once the building has power.

The next steps will be to bring in wiring for the telephone lines and computer terminals.

Inside the new station, a fire engine, ambulance and backup ambulance will be housed in the apparatus bays. It will include offices for a lieutenant, Simek, fire prevention and training, and emergency medical services. A locker room is located off the apparatus bay for quick access to the vehicles.

A kitchen large enough for four refrigerators and a stove are separated from the living quarters. In the previous station, the two were combined in about half the space of the new kitchen, Simek said. The living quarters no longer will be one large room but are divided into nine sleeping rooms.

“We’re bringing this up through the 21st century,” Simek said, adding female and male staff now have individual sleeping cubbies.

A new feature is a room that can be split by a partition into a training area and an emergency operating center. It may be used as an operations hub should severe weather, massive fires or even contagious disease outbreaks occur in Berwyn. Extra phone and computer lines will be installed, Simek said, and the area may even serve as a backup 911 center in the future.

“It’s a great location because it covers the north end of town,” Simek said. “It’s a busy area.”

The Fire Department has two other stations to cover the south side and central part of the city. The south fire station is at 6434 Windsor Ave. and the third station is at City Hall, 6700 W. 26th St. During construction, firefighters and paramedics have been dispatched to the north side from these stations.

Fire officials plan to knock down the home at 1535 Clarence Ave., behind the north fire station, for a parking lot and storage space. It could cost $61,548 to rehab the building, Simek said, while he received a quote of $9,750 to demolish the vacant house.

“Every room was packed with stuff. We had to go through it,” he said of the house.

The city bought the two-story, single-family home for more than $250,000 in the spring, according to property records. Original plans were for firefighters to be housed in it while on duty for the north side. But with too much work needed to clean out and fix up the house, fire and paramedic crews have worked out of the existing stations.

The house was built about 100 years ago, property records show. If the city demolishes the 1,536-square-foot house, they may create at least nine more parking spaces.

Fire officials also plan later to expand the station into the neighboring lot. That property owner has offered her house to the Fire Department but wanted to remain in the home until her death.

“She grew up in this house. I believe she was born in this house,” Simek said. “We don’t want to rush.”

The neighboring lot features a tidy brick and siding-covered home in brown, beige and a peachy cream. Potted plants adorn the back patio.

The single-family home and one-car detached garage sit on a 3,125-square-foot lot, according to Cook County Assessor records. It is almost 100 years old.

The buildings and property at 6619 16th St. have a 2008 estimated market value of $121,613, according to assessor’s office records.

Simek said once that property is transferred to the city, crews will launch the second phase of construction, building another two-bay garage on that site, next to the existing two-bay garage.

“I think the citizens feel safer with a firehouse in their neighborhood,” he said.