September 1, 2010

Stations more than just place for trucks

       In most Johnson County communities, you’ll see a new brick firehouse.  Fire station construction has been a growth industry in Johnson County in the past five years. All of the county’s full-time fire departments have built stations since 2005. Three volunteer departments also have construction plans.  Taxpayers have paid more than $10 million for new or planned stations in Bargersville, Franklin, Greenwood and White River Township. Fire departments have built stations closer to new neighborhoods to improve response times and keep up with the county’s 22 percent population increase over the past decade, fire chiefs said.  But the new firehouses have more than bays for trucks and beds for firefighters.  Crews are at the stations for 24-hour shifts. They need a place to cook and eat, a place to shower and sleep, and, yes, a place to watch television and sometimes play pool, White River Township Fire Chief Jeremy Pell said.  Most new fire stations include dayrooms, where recliners arc in front of big-screen televisions, and workout rooms with the weight machines and racks of free weights. The kitchens often have multiple refrigerators, stainless steel countertops and the type of stoves used in restaurants.  Such features are considered standard in new stations, Pell, Greenwood Fire Chief James Sipes and Bargersville Fire Chief James White all said.  Firefighters chip in $5 to $8 a month to pay for televisions, pool tables and other amenities. But furniture, kitchen appliances and workout equipment typically are included as part of the price of construction.  For example, White River Township, Greenwood and Bargersville all included commercial stoves in the stations that they built in the past four years. Bargersville also plans to spend $7,300 to install a commercial gas range at the station the district plans on State Road 135.  That price tag has led to criticism from taxpayers who have said the district is overpaying. Bargersville resident Jim Beck said the district should be a better steward of taxpayer dollars and not splurge on unneeded expenses.  The reason stoves cost so much at fire stations is that districts don’t just run to Sears to pick up a new one, Pell said. Because of heavy use, firefighters need the type of stove that is found in restaurants.  “It’s an absolute necessity to have a commercial stove because it’s not used in the same way you would in your home,” he said. “It’s used to cook for at least six people a few times a day, often at odd hours, 24/7, 365 days a year. That’s just too much wear and tear for a residential-grade stove.”  Greenwood installed a commercial range when it built its latest station on Graham Road on the city’s east side. The fire department also replaced a household-grade stove at its headquarters a few years ago with a restaurant-quality model because it was too worn down, Sipes said.  Fire station kitchens also have three refrigerators, one for each shift. A single refrigerator would become too overstuffed if 12 firefighters had to share it, said Lt. Tom Tharpe, a lieutenant with the Bargersville Fire Department.  Appliances such as refrigerators and washers and furnishings such as dayroom recliners and leather chairs in conference rooms add up to a small fraction of a new fire station’s cost. Franklin spent about $6,000 on appliances for two stations that cost a total of nearly $3 million, deputy chief Justin Lollar said.

Similar layouts

The biggest cost typically is for the construction itself, said William Burd, the architect for the two Franklin stations and a new Amity station.  How much a station costs largely depends on how many firefighters will be stationed there, he said. The number of firefighters and emergency service workers who will work 24-hour shifts at a new station determines how big it has to be.  The more firefighters, the more space will be needed for every room in the building because more people could be using it at any given time, he said.  All of the new firehouses have similar layouts. Each station has an office for the station commander, a watch room where firefighters fill out reports, a kitchen and vehicles bays.  Each firefighter has an individual sleeping area that sometimes is just a partitioned-off bunk without a door. Firefighters typically have to bring their own sheets, pillows and blankets because they share a mattress with two other shifts, Pell said.  The stations include training rooms and quiet rooms where firefighters can study for certifications they’re pursuing, meet with family members or just get away for some alone time. They include gyms where firefighters can get in the workouts that they’re typically required to do for an hour a day, and day rooms where they can spend downtime.  A few of the new stations have extra space, such as a command training center at White River Township Station 51. The department outfitted a room in the basement with computers for virtual training exercises, spokesman Jim Engmark said.  Bargersville’s newest station also has offices for the fire inspector and a conference room where the district board has its meetings. The new Franklin station on Sloan Drive has an office wing where the administration will be relocated to, so the department can free up more space for records storage and a larger workout area at its current headquarters on Main Street, Lollar said.

Allowing for growth

But aside from the added offices, the basic space needs are the same for most firehouses, fire chiefs said. But the sizes of the new station vary based on how many firefighters work there and whether there’s extra room built in for expansion.  Franklin’s two new stations have enough space for only the four firefighters based out of each, while Bargersville and Greenwood have been building bigger. Bargersville, Greenwood and White River Township added extra bedrooms and empty bays to their newest stations, so firefighters and vehicles could be added later.  A proposed station on State Road 135 in Bargersville, for instance, would have enough bedrooms for eight firefighters, while only four would be stationed there initially, White said.  The reason that they’re building larger bunk areas than what is needed right away is that they expect more people, businesses and traffic in the area. At that point, the department could assign a new ambulance or more vehicles to the new station.  If the department doesn’t prepare for future development, the station would need to be expanded at some point, White said.  “We don’t want to build for 10 or 15 years,” he said. “We’re trying to build for 50 years, to be prepared for the growth that will come.”

(Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)
 

  
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