Golden, IL -- Community members in and around Golden, Illinois may start to feel a little safer.

Today the Golden Fire Department celebrated it's new fire station.

Family's enjoyed barbecue, fire truck rides and smoke house tours for the kids.

Service awards were handed out and a presentation was given on the station's history and future.

Fire Chief, Les Post says the old station was a tight fit.

He says it housed three trucks in an area designed for two.

Not only is this new station larger with bigger doors and more room, it's also in a better location.

Post says this will make a positive difference when it comes to helping the community and saving lives.

"It makes it safer and also a lot nicer for us as a fire district to be able to operate out of this building we have room to get our equipment in a lot more training room plus our location here is a lot safer for us to respond on emergency calls without going through bad intersections or residential areas on the way out of town," said Post.

Post told us the station was built using reserved funds.

He says a federal grant in 2006 to buy a new truck freed up a lot of money, which was used to build the new station.