DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - Decatur's city council has approved a new fire station and trucks for the fire department. 

A new Station 7 will be built at 3530 and 3550 E. Chestnut Ave. in the R-2 district. The station will replace the current Station 7 at the Decatur Airport.

City officials have said the current Station 7 is too small to meet fire department needs is no longer located where geographically needed. 

"Basically you had a fire station that was only running at about half the territory that it could run," said Decatur Fire Department Chief Jeff Abbott. "So by moving it to a more centered location across the lake, it will be able to respond to the southeast corridor and it'll do the most to improve our response times for that area." 

The city council also approved the purchase of two new fire trucks at a cost of no more than $1.4 million. With this purchase, the city is replacing the oldest vehicles in its fire fleet, which are 20 years old and have had "numerous mechanical issues," according to Decatur officials.Â