By Alan M. Petrillo
Not every fire district or municipality can come up with the funding to build a new fire station when the need arises. That's when rehabilitating and renovating an older firehouse to accommodate new fire apparatus and equipment become the answer to allow those structures to function well in the 21st century.
Leading Reasons to Renovate
Bob Mitchell, owner of Mitchell Associates Architects, says there are several possible reasons a fire department might choose to renovate an older station. "It's certainly easier to build a new structure on a different site," he says, "but a department might not do it because it can't afford a new building, there is no plausible alternative site, the old station might be a historically significant building, or there's a public perception against a new station."
Mitchell notes the biggest driving force in renovating older fire stations is the larger size of fire apparatus today. Apparatus bay door heights and bay lengths are two of the biggest concerns in choosing renovation over building new, he adds. "The old 10-by-10-foot overhead doors don't work at all anymore," he says. "We're using 14-by-14-foot doors now. The body on a fire truck is typically eight feet wide, and with mirrors it grows to 10 feet, which could fit in a 12-by-12-foot doorway, but we like to keep eight feet of clearance from one truck bay to another."
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| 1 The city of Lincolnton, North Carolina, chose Stewart-Cooper-Newell Architects to renovate an existing fire station and city hall and put on an addition that connected them into a modern new facility. (Photo courtesy of Stewart-Cooper-Newell Architects.) |
Ken Newell, a partner in Stewart-Cooper-Newell Architects, says he performs a facility feasibility study for fire departments that can identify deficiencies in an older station and suggest remedies to correct them. "A department might need 15,000 square feet of space in a station and currently be operating out of 7,500 square feet, so we will quantify the additional space needed," Newell says. "Deficiencies in older stations usually start with bay space because fire stations built 20 to 50 years ago typically are not large enough for new fire apparatus, especially in height, length, and width. Also, older apparatus bays often have problems with their exhaust and drainage systems."
Joe Mottola, president of H2M Architects, says that in almost every case of a firehouse renovation, the focus is on the apparatus room. "Usually the department wants to get bigger trucks into a larger space in a safe manner with proper clearances," Mottola says. "That's the heart and soul of a fire station renovation, and once we get that laid out, then we get into the other spaces like meeting rooms, offices, and the kitchen."
One consideration sometimes overlooked in apparatus bay renovations is the overall height of the bays, Mottola says. "A question we ask is if they need to raise the cab in the station to do maintenance," he notes. "Or, do they need to put a truck on lifts in the station. Those answers will drive the interior height of the truck in the bay."