In a spotless kitchen on the second floor of Durango Fire Protection District’s new downtown fire station, a man admiring the station told Fire Chief Randy Black that his crew must feel like they “died and went to heaven.”
Black had just completed a tour of the new 15,000-square-foot, ultramodern fire station at 1235 Camino del Rio during a Friday open house celebrating the station’s completion. Firefighters moved in two days earlier from a cramped, deteriorating building just north, which had “temporarily” housed Fire Station 2 for the past 40 years.
In an address to open house attendees, Black said the new fire station is the result of the ninth design iteration. The district had contemplated several locations over the decades, including a shared facility with Durango Police Department.
Previous concepts never came to fruition because of logistics, community backlash, politics or other challenges. But the district finally succeeded in building a new fire station, said Hal Doughty, Black’s predecessor as fire chief.
“This was such a long time coming,” Doughty said. “Politically and emotionally, (it was) fraught with disagreements in the community to get to this point. Tickled to death; it’s finally happening.”
He said he often faced the question of whether 1235 Camino del Rio was the right location for a new downtown fire station. But now, seeing the completed facility next to the Animas River Trail and the river, he believes it will be a strong asset to the community for years to come.
The $11.5 million fire station was designed with the crew’s physical and mental well-being in mind, while also ensuring uninterrupted 24/7 fire and EMS services, Black said. It was built to accommodate crew growth and increased demand over the next 40 years.
“Instead of trying to remodel this building in 20 years and (dealing with costs), do it now to prepare,” he said. “… We can stack up more units, more trucks, and we have the capacity. Trying to use the money wisely.”
During his tour, he led visitors through an apparatus bay where a new 107-foot-long fire truck was parked. The truck is not yet ready for service – it was only acquired a week ago and still needs to be equipped – but it has already been used for training.
The bay contains five fourfold doors for trucks and engines to pass through. A large, boxy filter was attached to the roughly 17-foot-high ceiling. It is designed to filter cancer-causing diesel particulates from fire engine exhaust.
In the previous fire station next door, firefighter gear was stored in lockers at the back of the apparatus bay – directly in the blast line of truck and engine emissions.
In the new station, gear storage is protected from diesel particulates by sealed doors. Specialized washers and dryers for firefighting gear are nearby, and crews also have access to laundry facilities for personal clothing upstairs near the sleeping quarters.
An exercise gym is located on the west side of the building, adjacent to a restroom and shower.
The second floor includes meeting space, office space and living quarters.
There are 12 single-bed bunk rooms, each with drawers, closet space and alert systems to notify occupants of emergencies. Black said when crew members begin a shift, the alert system in their bunk will sound only if their assigned vehicle is being dispatched. Multiple single-user bathrooms are adjacent to the bunk rooms.
The building was constructed with sound-dampening materials to ensure crew members in the living quarters can rest despite its location next to Camino del Rio.
“It really is amazing how quiet this building is,” Black said. “If you stand right here with two big windows, you can barely hear the traffic off Camino.”
There is a spacious briefing room designed to accommodate more people as the department grows, as well as shared office space and private offices for captains.
There’s also a dedicated entertainment room with a wall-mounted television. The room will feature raised – or tiered – seating where occupants can watch training videos or general television programming, such as sports, Black said.
A marble table built by crew members serves as the centerpiece of a shared common area and kitchen. The kitchen includes several stainless steel refrigerators, two dishwashers and two sinks. Black said the former station could almost fit inside the kitchen.
He said crews are glad to have moved out of the former fire station.
“The minute we got that certificate of occupancy, the crews grabbed their bedding and walked across the parking lot,” Black said.
One feature Black is not happy with is an elevator on the west end. He said the building’s square footage legally requires an elevator, which he finds frustrating.
“They’re stupid expensive,” he said, noting that an elevator costs $4,500 per year to keep state-certified – not including maintenance and quarterly inspections. “If somebody needs an elevator, they can’t (be on) shift. So we didn’t want one, and we had no choice.”
There are two outdoor deck areas on the second floor – one on the north side and one on the south side. The northern deck includes a grill.
The building’s completion marks the end of the first construction phase for Station 2. The next phase includes demolishing the former fire station next door and constructing a parking lot. That’s expected to be completed this fall.
cburney@durangoherald.com
