By Edzel Butac

Joint Base Lewis-McChord Public Affairs

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. – A new Yakima Training Center fire station opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Dec. 9, completing one of the oldest military construction projects on record – dating back to September 2000, according to a press release.

“With this new station, it allows us to have all fire department operations underneath one building,” said Christopher Dykstra, YTC Fire Chief. “Previously, we were in three different buildings, and now all administrative activities and responses will be operating under one facility. This will improve our response capability and accommodate the full emergency response fleet under one central location. While the old station has served multiple generations of personnel for many years, the time had come to build a new home.”

The new facility will be able to house 13 firefighters and all department apparatuses, and will serve not only YTC, but the surrounding communities as well, according to Dykstra.

Lieutenant Colonel Tim Horn, YTC Garrison commander, is pleased with the new facility in more ways than one.

“The new station provides the YTC Fire and Emergency Services a much-needed upgrade in quality of life and safety,” said Horn. “The fire department will be able to house all their apparatuses in one facility, with all the firefighters and chiefs under one roof and provide capabilities, such as an alternate 911-dispatch site and plenty of room for families to visit their firefighters during their extended overnight duty hours.”

The new fire station will also benefit local communities because it increases the efficiency and capability of YTC to support its mutual aid agreements with neighboring emergency response departments during emergencies that require more firefighting resources than a single agency or community can provide, added Horn.

The project was 22 years in the making, and the length of time it took to complete was not lost on the installation commander.

“Luckily for me, I took command of YTC in the final stages of construction, but there have been many commanders, directors, and chiefs that have been promoting this project for over two decades,” said Horn. “But inevitably, the project gets completed, and today, we are the beneficiaries of those past efforts.”

The previous fire station was built in 1952 and has reached its sustainable life and will be demolished in the future.

Scott Shumaker
East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.)
(TNS)

Dec. 14—Work on a $44 million, 50,000-square-foot combined police and fire station at the northeast corner of Brown and Power Roads — dubbed the Northeast Public Safety Facility — got underway this month as City Council approved a construction contract and celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony earlier this month.

When completed, the facility will include four fire apparatus bays, room for two fire crews, one ambulance crew, and one battalion crew.

The police side will be able to accommodate up to 150 police officers with locker rooms, offices, briefing rooms and a holding area for processing suspects before transport.

Final design work on the project continues and construction is slated to begin in the spring, with an estimated completion date in late 2024.

The police and fire stations will share a lobby, community rooms and gym in the center of the facility, but will occupy separate wings of the building.

Based on its location, City Manager Chris Brady predicted that the new station would have a “significant impact” on emergency response times in this part of east Mesa and have a “trickle effect” on times throughout the city.

Brady said the site of the new station was identified during an analysis of repose times to identify slow spots.

The analysis showed that many of the hot spots for slower-than-target response times were concentrated in east Mesa.

In remarks before the groundbreaking, Mesa Police Chief Ken Cost described the current challenges for response times in this part of the city.

“We have officers right now that are responding to Las Sendas and then might have to go all the way down to Eastmark, and back and forth,” Cost said. “Minutes and seconds matter and … this substation is going to be quite a big deal for both District 5 and 6.”

City Engineer Beth Huning told Council in a study session last month that the city identified a need for police and fire in the same area, and that building a combined facility helped save money by maximizing shared assets like parking and community rooms.

Due to inflationary pressures affecting all city projects, costs for the original 57,000 square foot building planned for the 8-acre site came in $11 million above the $37 million authorized by the 2018 bond package that funds the facility.

The city’s architects revised the designs, trimming about 6,000 square feet and $5 million from the plans without compromising functionality, Brady said.

The project is still $6.8 million over the 2018 budget, so the city is covering the difference from $10 million set aside in this year’s budget for “construction inflation overrun.”

“This was so important from a public safety standpoint, that of the $10 million, we needed to dedicate a significant portion to deliver the project,” Brady said.

“It’s going to improve our response and the efficiency of the fire department tremendously… and we need to get this delivered. We need to get this built,” he added.

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(c)2022 East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.)

Visit East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.) at www.eastvalleytribune.com

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For the past six years, the north end of the Silver City (SD) Volunteer Fire District has been served out of a leased pole barn barely large enough to house one fire engine, RapidCityJournal.com reported. Thanks to a $500,000 donation awarded by the Pennington County Commission last Tuesday, it’s getting a new home.

The donation, part of a $2 million budget request made by the Pennington County Fire Administration last summer, will allow Silver City’s Station No. 2 in Merritt to move out of a situation that served a temporary need, but was never intended for long-term use, the report said.

The request included $500,000 for volunteer fire departments in Quinn, Scenic and Wasta, in addition to Silver City. Each of the four stations in need of replacement suffered from similar issues, the budget request stated. Among the inadequacies were rotting foundations, lack of space, cracked floors and vermin infestation, often hindering the departments’ ability to respond to fires and medical emergencies, the report said.

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