By Alan M. Petrillo

The Violet Township (OH) Fire Department provides fire and emergency medical services to a 41-square-mile service area in the northwest corner of Fairfield county from three stations—with one located in the historic downtown of Old Pickerington. That station was the department's original downtown firehouse and had restricted apparatus bay door sizes, tight sleeping quarters, and almost no storage.

KZF Design designed and built this station to complement surrounding structures in downtown Old Pickerington for Violet Township (OH) Fire Department. (Photos courtesy of KZF Design.)

Mike Little, Violet Township’s chief, says the department and township knew they needed to replace the old station. "The maximum height on the apparatus bay doors was nine feet, and the width was narrower than normal too," Little points out. "It was built as a volunteer station in 1953, and we had converted office space into bunk rooms that could sleep six in tight quarters upstairs next to a day room, while the apparatus bays occupied the ground floor. There was no room for expansion of the station." Little notes the department has 55 full-time and 20 part-time paid firefighters and handles 6,500 runs a year.

Violet Townships new station is an L-shaped design structure that encompasses 18.875 square feet.

Violet Township engaged KZF Design to design and build a replacement station in the old downtown are  but required KZF to give the new structure the look and feel of an old small town village, according to Mark Shoemaker, director of public facilities for KZF Design. Shoemaker says that Violet Township, the city of Pickerington, and the Chamber of Commerce worked to put together an L-shaped site that included an adjoining park right of way and a Chamber-owned property. "Violet Township got the city to vacate the park right of way and purchased the Chamber property, demolished the old fire station, and agreed to lease office space to the Chamber in the new station," Shoemaker says. "The fire department maintained a portion of the old park right of way, which allowed us to create a pedestrian pathway from the main street at the front of the new station to the park."

The KZF-designed fire station has three 55-foot long back-in apparatus bays facing Lockville Road on the east, and a 40-foot back-in bay that opens onto Park Alley.

Shoemaker says the new station's north side fronts on West Columbus Avenue and is two stories high, while the south side faces Park Alley, which has an eight-foot grade level lower than the Columbus Avenue side of the building, allowing the apparatus bays to be located in the back of the station in a floor below the level of the front ground floor entrance. "We had to meet the city's architectural guidelines and also picked up detailing from the ol