The green padded chairs circled the flat-screen television like a little movie theater. Outside, a gas grill sat covered near the courtyard’s manicured trees and garden.

Welcome to your new Fire Station No. 5.

“We tried to make it feel as homelike as possible,” Battalion Chief Doug Green told a half-dozen onlookers Saturday.

The station at 19th and Iowa streets has been open for weeks now, but on Saturday Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical officials welcomed the public into their new home.

Department staff gave dozens of curious parents, kids and other residents full access to the new, 17,000-square-foot station. Taxpayers – who footed the station’s $4.49 million bill – examined everything from the chairs and television in the station’s living quarters to the smoky equipment room.

“It’s not our station; it’s the community’s station,” Fire Chief Mark Bradford said between greeting people at the station’s front doors.

The station houses both the fire station and the department’s administrative offices – something Bradford said has already helped efficiency and saved time by housing all of the department’s chiefs and officials in one building.

“I think we’ve increased our management efficiency,” Bradford said. He added that some response times also have gotten shorter and should continue to improve when the new Fire Station No. 4 opens on the west side of the city.

Down a long flight of stairs inside the sparkling new Fire Station No. 5, Division Chief Doug Green showed Janet Pennybaker, Lawrence, and others the new digs.

“Wow. That’s a nice grill,” Pennybaker said, looking out at the courtyard. Down past the kitchen and meeting rooms, kids turned the department’s new, red quint truck into playground equipment.

The station’s bay holds an engine, ladder and medic company, plus a hazardous materials van and room for additional trucks.

Green took time explaining different sizes of hoses and their duties, how the new truck works and the lack of need for any poles to slide down.

In traditional open-house fashion, folks helped themselves to drinks and cake, this one decorated with the blue triangle of the fire and medical department.