10.1. SR 09-05-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Elk River Fire Department Elk River, MN Fire Station Feasibility and Facilities Study Five Bugles Design A Division of Wendel Companies released during fire events. Proper decontamination of equipment and personnel. Station No. 1 does not have appropriate facilities for current best practices. Installation of such might be cost prohibitive given the facilities age. Some of the specific challenges include:  No showers or personnel decontamination spaces.  Turnout gear is stored in the apparatus bays leading to increased contamination.  Space for cleaning of gear, including trucks is limited, and shared with other uses.  No direct vent exhaust available for trucks. Staff Support Spaces – Staff support spaces such as Day Room and Office/Sleeping Rooms do not exist. Adding them would require reductions in other spaces that are needed or additions for which there is not room on site. Future construction at other Elk River Fire Department facilities is recommending construction of these spaces which will lead to inequities in the overall department. Training – Training for fire departments comes in two types, classroom style and physical training. The facility has a small training room, but will not sit the entire compliment that shows up for a training. There is no space dedicated to the physical training activities such as hose and ladder drills, stairs, standpipes, confined space, etc. Location – The station location study indicates that this facility is correctly located for the cu rrent demographics of Elk River. However, it there is response overlap with Station No. 2 and does not provide adequate response to the northern reaches of the City. A time can be envisioned when a station will be needed north of Station No. 1, and when fewer of the department’s personnel live within timely reach of the station. Also, it is located relatively close in both time and distance to Station No. 2 making a large percentage of its response redundant to that station. Energy Efficiency – Energy usage was not a major consideration in building construction in 1972. Those portions of the building certainly do not meet current energy codes. Any major updating of the facility would require some energy usage improvements. Newer portions, with the possible exception the EMS addition are likely to only be slightly better performing. RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendation No. 1: Obtain an easement allowing the current drive through situation to continue to protect the department from a sudden change in operations due to change in that situation. Recommendation No. 2: Station No. 2 is newer, serves as the Department Headquarters, is well located at the Government Center and will continue to serve the department well. Station No. 1 on the other hand is older, landlocked, and is not providing coverage that it could for the City. Future planning should assume replacement of Station No. 1 in the next 10 years. Minimize maintenance to repair where possible and replacement only when necessary. 86