JOHNSTOWN -- City firemen have completed the move to the new Central Fire station and the former central station on South William Street and the outpost station at North Perry and Matthew Streets have been left vacant.

The new Central Fire Station was completed last week and fire department officials were officially presented with the keys to the modern facility Saturday.

The moving operation began Tuesday morning and firemen completed the moving of all major equipment Tuesday with no interruption of service to the community.

Yesterday small equipment was transferred to the new quarters and all equipment has been tested and is in operation.

Fire Chief William H. La Voie noted that the new alarm system is also in operation; however, the siren at the South William Street Station will continue in operation for a few days.

The chief said members of the fire department did the moving job and all on-duty firemen spent Tuesday night at the new station. He said no problems have yet arisen and he anticipates none.

The new station, located at North Perry and Briggs Street was built by the Fazzone Construction Company of Schenectady and work on the building began last spring.

The two-story building is faced with brick and the second floor houses the sleeping quarters for firemen. Also on the second floor of the building are the offices of the fire chief and storage area.

The front of the building faces on North Perry Street and has three bays for the fire trucks. There is also a bay on the Briggs Street side of the building and the fire chief's car will be housed there.

The first floor also contains a maintenance area for the trucks and a hose drying room.

The new station also has a new recording system whereby all calls in and out of the station are taped so that there will be a record of all fire calls.

The city has not yet announced what the plans are for the two vacant stations but it is expected that they will be sold.