By Alan M. Petrillo

The Houston (TX) Fire Department was looking to add a new station and concentrated on energy efficiency as a hallmark for the new structure.

The fire department turned to Brown Reynolds Watford (BRW) Architects to design the station that would take up about two acres on an eight-acre city site that will serve as a public safety location to ultimately include a new police station.

Energy Efficiency

“We wanted to think outside the box in terms of air-conditioning and heating,” says Mark Donovan, Houston’s assistant fire chief. “We went with geothermal cooling and heating, the first of our 93 stations to use geothermal. We also wanted to get the highest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating that we could, and geothermal provided a very big bump on that score. Plus, we thought we also might see significant cost savings on energy.”

1 Houston (TX) Fire Department Ladder 26 exits Station 84. The department and the architects, Brown Reynolds Watford Architects, won a LEED award for the station. (Photos courtesy of Michael Lyon and Brown Reynolds Watford Architects.)

Nearly a year after the department moved into the station in April 2016, Donovan compared the new Station 84 electrical usage to that of Houston’s 1980s-era Station 75. “The electricity use for Station 84 is about $1,200 a month, which is around $300 a month less than Station 75, even though Station 84 is more than 50 percent larger at 15,500 square feet compared to Station 75’s 10,200 square feet,” he says. BRW and the department won a Silver LEED award for Station 84.

Station 84 also makes use of a great deal of natural ambient light, Donovan points out, as well as sustainable products, such as cabinetry made out of bamboo. “We also have all LED lighting and an access-controlled location where we can pull off the roadway and activate the Opticom to get in the gate and close it after entering,” he says. “We also have on-site fueling for our apparatus and a backup generator that will power 100 percent capacity of the station when needed.”

2 The kitchen in Houston’s Station 84 uses cabinetry constructed of bamboo and is surrounded by clerestory windows to provide natural, ambient light.

Gary DeVries, principal at BRW Architects, says that once BRW got the award to design the station, his staff visited other Houston stations, asking firefighters what they liked and disliked about their quarters. “We also consulted with the fire chief for his vision of what he wanted Station 84 to look like, which was modern architecture, and the head of the General Services Department, who wanted a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art station,” DeVries says.

Building Features

For the geothermal mechanical system, DeVries says the construction manager, J.E. Dunn Contracting, drilled 30 wells that would d

By Alan M. Petrillo

The Houston (TX) Fire Department was looking to add a new station and concentrated on energy efficiency as a hallmark for the new structure.

The fire department turned to Brown Reynolds Watford (BRW) Architects to design the station that would take up about two acres on an eight-acre city site that will serve as a public safety location to ultimately include a new police station.

Energy Efficiency

“We wanted to think outside the box in terms of air-conditioning and heating,” says Mark Donovan, Houston’s assistant fire chief. “We went with geothermal cooling and heating, the first of our 93 stations to use geothermal. We also wanted to get the highest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating that we could, and geothermal provided a very big bump on that score. Plus, we thought we also might see significant cost savings on energy.”

1 Houston (TX) Fire Department Ladder 26 exits Station 84. The department and the architects, Brown Reynolds Watford Architects, won a LEED award for the station. (Photos courtesy of Michael Lyon and Brown Reynolds Watford Architects.)

Nearly a year after the department moved into the station in April 2016, Donovan compared the new Station 84 electrical usage to that of Houston’s 1980s-era Station 75. “The electricity use for Station 84 is about $1,200 a month, which is around $300 a month less than Station 75, even though Station 84 is more than 50 percent larger at 15,500 square feet compared to Station 75’s 10,200 square feet,” he says. BRW and the department won a Silver LEED award for Station 84.

Station 84 also makes use of a great deal of natural ambient light, Donovan points out, as well as sustainable products, such as cabinetry made out of bamboo. “We also have all LED lighting and an access-controlled location where we can pull off the roadway and activate the Opticom to get in the gate and close it after entering,” he says. “We also have on-site fueling for our apparatus and a backup generator that will power 100 percent capacity of the station when needed.”

2 The kitchen in Houston’s Station 84 uses cabinetry constructed of bamboo and is surrounded by clerestory windows to provide natural, ambient light.

Gary DeVries, principal at BRW Architects, says that once BRW got the award to design the station, his staff visited other Houston stations, asking firefighters what they liked and disliked about their quarters. “We also consulted with the fire chief for his vision of what he wanted Station 84 to look like, which was modern architecture, and the head of the General Services Department, who wanted a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art station,” DeVries says.

Building Features

For the geothermal mechanical system, DeVries says the construction manager, J.E. Dunn Contracting, drilled 30 wells that would d

By Alan M. Petrillo

The Houston (TX) Fire Department was looking to add a new station and concentrated on energy efficiency as a hallmark for the new structure.

The fire department turned to Brown Reynolds Watford (BRW) Architects to design the station that would take up about two acres on an eight-acre city site that will serve as a public safety location to ultimately include a new police station.

Energy Efficiency

“We wanted to think outside the box in terms of air-conditioning and heating,” says Mark Donovan, Houston’s assistant fire chief. “We went with geothermal cooling and heating, the first of our 93 stations to use geothermal. We also wanted to get the highest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating that we could, and geothermal provided a very big bump on that score. Plus, we thought we also might see significant cost savings on energy.”

1 Houston (TX) Fire Department Ladder 26 exits Station 84. The department and the architects, Brown Reynolds Watford Architects, won a LEED award for the station. (Photos courtesy of Michael Lyon and Brown Reynolds Watford Architects.)

Nearly a year after the department moved into the station in April 2016, Donovan compared the new Station 84 electrical usage to that of Houston’s 1980s-era Station 75. “The electricity use for Station 84 is about $1,200 a month, which is around $300 a month less than Station 75, even though Station 84 is more than 50 percent larger at 15,500 square feet compared to Station 75’s 10,200 square feet,” he says. BRW and the department won a Silver LEED award for Station 84.

Station 84 also makes use of a great deal of natural ambient light, Donovan points out, as well as sustainable products, such as cabinetry made out of bamboo. “We also have all LED lighting and an access-controlled location where we can pull off the roadway and activate the Opticom to get in the gate and close it after entering,” he says. “We also have on-site fueling for our apparatus and a backup generator that will power 100 percent capacity of the station when needed.”

2 The kitchen in Houston’s Station 84 uses cabinetry constructed of bamboo and is surrounded by clerestory windows to provide natural, ambient light.

Gary DeVries, principal at BRW Architects, says that once BRW got the award to design the station, his staff visited other Houston stations, asking firefighters what they liked and disliked about their quarters. “We also consulted with the fire chief for his vision of what he wanted Station 84 to look like, which was modern architecture, and the head of the General Services Department, who wanted a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art station,” DeVries says.

Building Features

For the geothermal mechanical system, DeVries says the construction manager, J.E. Dunn Contracting, drilled 30 wells that would d

By Carl Nix

Training firefighters to be safe and smart while using a thermal imaging camera (TIC) when responding to an incident is perhaps the most rewarding aspect of providing TIC training.

Firefighters are the ones in the trenches when a call comes in and lives are at risk, but what about the incident commander (IC), who is responsible for getting these firefighters home safely? Does the IC need a TIC?

When a company officer or incident commander arrives on scene, one of the first challenges is to identify the seat of the fire. Coordinating a scene full of firefighters, apparatus, and other resources - often from multiple agencies - while performing a multitude of tasks in an environment where decisions can make the difference between life and death is a lot to ask. This is the job of the IC: being responsible for the safety of all involved as well as the successful outcome of an often rapidly evolving and unpredictable incident. The demands placed on an IC can be overwhelming; that’s where a TIC can help the IC make decisions to ensure the safety of all involved.

One of the most significant challenges an IC faces is the ability to quickly gather vital information on the conditions unfolding at the scene. Obstacles including rapidly changing conditions, unknown building construction features, blinding smoke, and poor nighttime visibility make this job incredibly difficult. Many hazards are also simply invisible to the naked eye. Experienced firefighters will agree that if initial information is gathered quickly and accurately, incidents tend to go well. When an incident is running on inaccurate or incomplete information, problems can occur and result in the loss of a structure or a life.

Fortunately, many of these obstacles are now being addressed with the use of thermal imaging technology that enables firefighters to rapidly and efficiently collect information that would otherwise be unavailable. With this information, ICs can better determine the resources required and where to deploy them. Most importantly, this new information has made operations safer and has meant the difference between life and death for responders and civilians.

More and more fire departments are realizing this benefit and are equipping chief officers with TICs in their vehicles to ensure ICs have the necessary information to make the best decisions on the scene. Using a TIC can help pinpoint a concentration of heat within an area of a building, saving a great deal of time, especially in large commercial or multistory structures. An IC with this knowledge can better direct firefighters regarding their point of entry and plan of attack and can apply the appropriate resources to endure a safe resolution.

1 A thermal imaging camera is a safety tool that helps the incident commander make informed decisions while in the heat of the fire. (Photo courtesy of Bullard.)

Take a structure fire, for example. In planning for a response at a structure fire, the IC should consider the total number of TICs available on scene, including the number of units that will be there, where they are coming from, and how quickly they can arrive. There can never be too many TICs at an incident, so every effort should be made to have and use as many units as possible. The IC can use a TIC for size-up and assessme