The McCully fire station is being razed to make way for a new $4.5 million station, the fire department said yesterday. During the 18-month closure, Engine 29 will work out of the Ala Wai Golf Course maintenance yard parking area, and Ladder 29 will work out of the Waikiki fire station.

The McCully fire station will close today.

The fire station was built in 1948 to house the crew and equipment for Ladder 29. At the time it was considered one of the most technologically advanced fire stations in the state.

Now, almost 60 years later, it needs serious upgrades to keep up with the needs of the area. Today's fire trucks don't even fit in the building.

"You have to think, (it was built) before high rises were around," said administrative service Capt. Robert Main of the fire department. "This was even before Ala Moana (Center)."

Main said firefighters moved all station equipment and furniture out of the 6,872-square-foot building last week.

"We're excited and anxiously awaiting our new station," said Ron Lockwood, chairman of the McCully/Mo'ili'ili Neighborhood Board. "It would be nice to have a station that the trucks could fit into."

Officials determined that the cost of renovating the existing building would be far greater than demolishing the building and building a new one, Main said. The planned 10,350-square-foot facility will be wired for computers and other technology that wasn't available in the old station, Main said.

"It is a time capsule all in itself," Main said of the existing building. "It's lived its life's end and made its use to the community."