FERRIDAY — Outdated electrical wiring can be a fire hazard, and the Ferriday Fire Station is getting a wiring update.

The wiring update is part of a total renovation effort within the 65-year-old station, which Mayor Glen McGlothin said includes plasterwork, painting and new bathroom facilities.

“Some of this was my fault, because we kept on saying we were going to build a new station,” he said.

The renovation also includes sealing windows and replacing old doors, and Assistant Fire Chief Herman Smith said it would end with a new metal roof on the station.

“Since we are doing a remodel we need to put in a new roof,” he said. “It was leaking in a few places — it was ruining the walls.”

The new station roof will be different than the existing one in that it will be slanted rather than flat, McGlothin said.

“Flat roofs make no sense in Louisiana,” he said. “They leak — it’s just not a good idea.”

The last renovation to the fire station was done approximately 15 years ago, when a truck bay was added, Smith said.

The renovations being done now are meant to last until the town can build a new fire station, McGlothin said.

The idea to build a new fire station and police station complex was brought up by the previous mayoral administration, and McGlothin said in his last term as mayor plans were made to build a new fire station along with the downtown market that will be located at the old Pasternak site.

Plans to build the market have since started moving forward, but the fire station idea had to be abandoned because of cost escalations.

Now, the mayor said the town is in the process of applying for a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to purchase the old Macon Ridge building on Louisiana Avenue.

If the town gets the grant, McGlothin said the building will be converted into a fire and police station complex, with the fire station utilizing the building’s shop and the police department using the other side of the building.

A similar renovation to the police station was completed in 2008.