Fire Station Project Does Augusta Really need a New Station?

Powering the Station z During power outages, the station operates off a “vintage” 1940 era manually started generator. yPersonnel are required to come to the station to actually start the generator before it will power the station. yThe Radio use to notify the Firefighters operates off of a car battery for a short period of time, hopefully we are made aware that the power is off so that someone can go to the station and start up the old generator and switch the power supply over to it so that the radio will operate. The current generator runs off Diesel fuel.

z We must manually switch the power over from DTE to the generator. yManually switching the power over is very rough on all of the equipment, computers, radios and general station equipment can be damaged

z Safety is an issue… yCurrently none of the circuits are protected with Ground Fault protection xAs you can imagine, the fire station can be a wet environment, Firefighters are always standing in water around the old station, partially because the current floor is uneven and water puddles. Under current conditions, personnel are receiving shocks from equipment. This can be very dangerous.

z The Contaminated Medical Waste is stored outside the station yWe had to build a box to lock up the Bio-Hazard Container. If we spray for bee’s we can usually gain access to it to place the contaminated blood borne materials in the box inside. We do pad lock the outer box, so that hopefully kids and other curious people can not get into it.

Current Space is Limited z The trucks are stacked in every bay yCurrently, we have truck parked behind trucks xWhen we have some types of fires, we must move trucks out of the bays to get the truck we need out to respond to fires. xThis creates a problem when the parking lot has cars in it, there is no where to park the large fire trucks.

z Getting Trucks in and out is difficult at best. yAs you can see, we have little clearance when moving trucks in an out. They are dangerously close to the walls and luckily no one has been injured when trying to get the apparatus back in the station. Over the years, some equipment has been damaged in the process. Apparatus Bays...

z The two Brush Trucks are parked in behind the Tanker and Rescue. yHaving to move trucks always delays our responses on brush fires

z You can see that we must climb over one truck to get to the drivers side of the other one. yBecause of the limited depth of the bays, the front bumpers of one truck must overlap the rear steps of the others to fit inside

z Hose Drying Rack yHere you can see the existing hose drying rack. When we dry hose, it is almost impossible to even get into the Brush truck parked next to the rack yThese racks lay down to horizontal. You can see the damage to the racks from being hit at some time or another. This rack sits along side the Rescue and Brush Trucks

z The front apron is much too small yWhen the trucks are parked out front, they are dangerously close to the road. yThis creates an extremely hazardous condition for personnel when we must wash trucks, which has to be done outside because there is not enough room inside. ySeveral Firefighters have almost been hit by passing cars.

z Some one is usually posted to watch for passing cars when we have to wash trucks.

z Currently, the Breathing Air Compressor is right along side the trucks. yBreathing air that is put in our Air tanks is drawn from the same space as where the trucks park and exhaust their fumes. We have to always make sure we are not trying to back trucks in while the compressor is refilling our air bank

z Here you see “the sink” yThis sink is used for everything including xContaminated medical equipment clean up xCleaning our air masks that we wear on our faces xMaking coffee xWashing up after runs xWashing our cups and silverware xWould you like a cup of coffee?

z The Medical Supply Cabinet yHere is where we store all of the medical supplies we use to treat patients. As you can see, some of the equipment has to be stored outside the cabinet in boxes yRight next to the 1980’s vintage Brush Truck exhaust...

z Air Compressor to fill Truck Tires z Dryer for the laundry z Medical Supply Storage cabinet z Sink z Washer for laundry z Water Heater z Brush 3-2

z The Men's bathroom z The apparatus Bay rear Emergency Exit

z The Women’s bathroom z The refrigerator and furnace room and storage room

The Office Area z The Chiefs Office yCurrently the Fire Chief’s office is very cramped. yAll of the personnel files are kept here. yMedical incident reports from runs we have been on are stored here yCritical, confidential files are all stored here

z Our Current “Base Radio” yThis is the main Fire Department radio It is kept behind a locked door, because that’s the only space available. yThis radio is used as the primary radio to initially page all the personnel for emergency response. It is backed up with a car battery that is kept on the floor next to the radio. If the radio fails, the pages do not go out...

z The “Officers Room” yHere you can see the Officers Desks. All of the current officers share these two desks. yThe Assistant Chief yThe Fire Inspector yThe Captain/Training Officer yThe Lieutenant yThe two Sergeants

z The Training Room yOur Training room is also the Officers room yOur Firefighters attend training weekly. We pack as many as Firefighter in the room every week, there is barely enough room to sit, no less have tables to write on when we train.

z Amenities include yThe Chalk board we use is also the message board, the apparatus assignment board and memo board yThe Pull down screen is used to show training slides or training videos

z More Amenities include yThe small TV Monitor along with the DVD Player for training videos yWATCH YOUR HEAD!! The DVD player hangs down in the instructors path, we try to remember to always tell the instructor first thing to not hit their head… yOur Trophy Display area, we are proud of our past accomplishments, and try to display them for everyone to see.

Does the Fire Department really need a new station? You be the judge...