By Chris Mc Loone
When we think about firefighter health and safety, we often think of it on the fireground. We think about rehab after a fire, ensuring our PPE is worn properly and at the appropriate times, wearing our SCBA during overhaul, and getting to and from the scene in the safest manner possible. However, next to healthy living in general, firefighter health and safety begins at the station before we ever respond to a call.
On the career side of the business, the fire station is where firefighters spend most of their day. In many departments, firefighters are spending their days in legacy stations, sometimes built more than 100 years ago—before motorized fire apparatus existed. My volunteer fire company's station was completed in 1927. We've added on over the years for additional apparatus bays, a training room to the rear, and more space for our engineers to work.
I can remember the days when we had a smooth concrete floor that became an ice rink when wet. More than one of us has taken a spill o that old floor over the years, always narrowly missing the corner of the back step of one of the rigs. When we come into the firehouse for a call, the parking lot is two or three steps above the grade of the firehouse, so on cold, icy nights, it can be a treacherous leaving the parking lot if we're not careful. Ensuring the paths and steps are clear of snow and ice goes a long way toward limiting the occurrence of slips, trips, or falls—instances that account for many firefighter injuries every year.
We wear our SCBA to protect us from the harmful products of combustion--CO, smoke, other toxic gases. But, what about on the apparatus floor? How old are your fire trucks? Are they from the 1990s or early 2000s, or often earlier than that? Diesel exhaust is a known carcinogen. If we are on the apparatus floor when a truck starts, we are exposed. If our gear is out on the floor, it is exposed, and we further expose ourselves to this carcinogen as soon as we don our PPE.
Today's stations are designed with firefighter health and safety in mind. They are ergonomic, and they are set up in such a way that firefighters follow the path of least resistance to get from the dayroom or bunkroom to the apparatus floor. They are also set up to follow the path of least obstruction! Common areas are offset from the apparatus bays, and diesel exhaust removal systems vent or filter truck exhaust so as not to harm firefighters.
New or old, as you look at your station and enhancements you want to make, make sure everything you do is with firefighter health and safety in mind. If you're building new, don't skimp on safety. You wouldn't skimp on it on your next rig. Treat your building the same way. Career or volunteer, we spend more of our on-duty time in the station than on the rig. Put the gear in a different room in modern storage areas. Remove the exhaust. Make sure your firefighters have the proper equipment to clean and dry their PPE. Ensure they can turn out as quickly as possible by having proper station alerting systems that alert and inform. Make sure the bay floor doesn’t turn into an ice skating rink to reduce slips and falls.
Make sure you spend as much time working to keep your firefighters safe at the station as you do keeping themselves on the rig and fireground.
Read more
- 466
- Article rating: No rating
Posted: May 13, 2016
By Ken Newell, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
After a design firm spends more than years designing more than 300 fire-rescue facilities, it is often asked by public safety personnel beginning the facility planning process, “What are some of the tips you can give us for our station project?” This is not a top 16 list but is simply a random list of ideas we find ourselves repeating to our clients and those in the preplanning stage.
- A full site survey, including topography and many other data characteristics, will be necessary for design and construction. With the proper “survey checklist,” there is nothing to keep you from having the survey performed even before you hire a design professional.
- Before selecting your architect, be sure to speak with several of its past public safety clients to gauge their level of satisfaction with the architect’s performance.
- There are many nonconstruction costs associated with a project. These are typically referred to as “soft costs” and can include items such as land acquisition, surveys, special inspections, furnishings, equipment, design fees, etc.
- “Free property” often turns out to be very expensive based on its development cost; unusable easements and right-of-ways; or what is below the ground surface, i.e., unsuitable soils, rock, high ground water, buried debris, etc.
- You may be able to secure additional capital funding sources if you provide minimal space for other agencies like EMS, a police substation, or parks and recreation space.
- Collect literature or cut sheets on the equipment you plan to purchase for the new facilities, such as extractors, compressors, alerting systems. This information will be needed during the facility design.
- Try to include “end users” on your planning committee. They have a vested interest in being dedicated to the project’s success. If they are not included, they will certainly find items in the finished facility that don’t meet their expectations.
- It is almost always less expensive to build a one-story station compared to a two-story station, assuming you have the proper site to do so.
- Plan the site and facility for future growth and modifications. It will happen.
- You can incorporate indoor and outdoor training props into the design for relatively little cost.
- Select durable, maintenance-free materials and systems for inside and outside.
- If you choose to use glass on the apparatus bay doors, consider not using it at the bottom panel. The glass at the bottom of the door is what requires cleaning most often.
- There are many systems that apply color to the apparatus bay floors during construction, but very few of them provide a meaningful UV color fastness warranty in writing.
- Prior to pouring the apparatus bay floors, have the building contractor pour a sample floor panel so you can approve the floor finish you expect to receive with the final product.
- Your department may be eligible for grants or low-interest loans from government agencies such as FEMA, FHA, or USDA.
- If you don’t have a good sense of humor, develop one. It will come in handy in this project and in life!
For more information on these ideas or many others, contact us or any experienced public safety design professional.
Read more
- 418
- Article rating: No rating