AUGUSTA — The last time the city built a new fire station, Lyndon B. Johnson was president, gas was 31cents a gallon and the Augusta Fire Department responded to 500 fire calls a year, had no ambulances and responded to no emergency medical service calls.
There was no Augusta Civic Center, nor Marketplace at Augusta, nor hospital in the then-relatively rural north Augusta.
Now, 51 years since the city’s newest fire station was built on Hospital Street, construction is starting on a new fire station in now-bustling north Augusta. The department responds to 4,500 emergency medical service calls a year, has five ambulances, and responds to more than 1,300 fire calls a year.
“This is a big deal for us. So much has changed since the city last built a new fire facility,” said Fire Chief Roger Audette. “It’s going to be a major improvement in our operations and delivery of services. Having the proper facilities to support what we do is important.”
Work started last week at the site of the new, approximately $4 million station, and an official groundbreaking ceremony is set for Thursday.
Audette said the new station will speed response times to the area surrounding the station, notably the highly developed commercial area along Civic Center Drive including the Marketplace at Augusta, the civic center, and Central Maine Commerce Center. He said response times to that area now from existing stations such as Hartford and Bangor Street stretch from seven to 10 minutes, while the department’s goal is to get to accident, fire or medical emergency scenes in three to five minutes.
A 2008 study of the city’s fire station locations, staffing and emergency response times by Matrix Consulting Group recommended the city build a new fire station in the Civic Center Drive area near Interstate 95 to speed response times. Even then, north Augusta was a growing commercial area that has continued to see growth, including the opening of a new MaineGeneral Medical Center in 2013.
In the last four years, Audette said, the number of calls in north Augusta has increased 61 percent.
Construction of the new station is expected to be done Jan. 31 of next year. It won’t be complete by the time the city’s new multipurpose ladder firetruck, which is to be kept there, is expected to arrive in November.
That is a problem because the new truck is too big to fit into any of the city’s existing fire stations.
Audette said one bay of the new station may be complete by the time the new truck arrives. If so, it’ll be kept there. If not, it will be parked elsewhere, potentially in the public works department garage.
Audette said the new truck won’t be put into service until all firefighters have a chance to train on it, which could take six to eight weeks, so it could be parked at public works during that training period.
Voters approved $3.6 million in bonds in a November 2014 referendum vote to build the new station. They also approved $1 million to purchase the new firetruck with a ladder in the same referendum.
However, in January city officials learned the clay soil under the station site may not be able to support the weight of the station and the water-laden firetrucks it will hold. In February city councilors unanimously approved spending an additional $500,000 to put steel pilings 60 feet down through the soil at the site, into bedrock, so it can support the weight of the station and vehicles it will hold.
Penobscot Builders was selected by the city to build the station, according to City Manager William Bridgeo.
Bridgeo said Audette, who has prior experience as a building contractor and who has been involved in the planning and design of the new station, will serve as the owners’ representative on the project.
The proposed fire station site across the street from the intersection of Leighton Road and Anthony Avenue was acquired by the city for $175,000 in 1999 in the hope of using it to attract business to the area. However, the city never drew development to the site. Bridgeo said the fire station would take up only a portion of the lot, and the rest still could be developed.
Audette said no traffic lights will be installed on Leighton Road for the fire station, though there will be “fire trucks entering” signs with flashing warning lights installed on the road which emergency workers can activate as they leave the station.
Audette said the new station will provide some much-needed space for firefighters, trucks, ambulances and gear. He said all the city’s existing fire stations are cramped because they were built so long ago before fire departments provided ambulance services or had special equipment for hazardous materials incidents.
Audette said the five ambulances and hazardous materials vehicles and trailers take up an additional seven or eight garage bays of storage space. He noted today’s firetrucks are bigger than the ones the existing stations were designed for, as they carry much more specialized equipment than they did back then. He said the truck bays of Hartford Station, the department’s roughly 100-year-old headquarters building, are so tight firefighters can’t open equipment cabinets on the sides of trucks to do inventory while they are parked inside.
Currently only ambulances and small trucks are parked inside Hartford Station, because an inspection revealed cracks in the station’s floor leading to concern it may not be able to support the weight of fire engines.
The fire engine normally kept there is instead parked at the Western Avenue station. Audette said city officials meet soon to review bids submitted to stabilize the Hartford Station floor.
Longer-term, city officials are saving funds in tax increment financing accounts for the planned future expansion and renovation of Hartford Station.
Audette said that eventually, once Hartford is expanded, the new multipurpose ladder truck will be relocated from the new station to Hartford.
In addition to the new ladder truck, the north Augusta station will house two ambulances, one fire engine and one support vehicle such as a forestry truck, rescue boat or trailers.
Two or three firefighters will be there on any given day, and two firefighter/emergency medical service workers will be there around the clock except when they are on a call. The station includes space for up to six firefighters to live and work, providing room for future expansion should calls for service in north Augusta continue to increase. Living quarters are needed because emergency workers often work 24-hour shifts.
The new station has a collection system to remove the fumes coming from vehicles, gear storage space, areas where workers and their equipment can be safely decontaminated following calls which may involve hazardous materials or bodily fluids, meeting and training space, kitchen and dining room and a workout room for firefighters.
Audette said at least one person questioned the need for a workout room. However, Audette said it is needed because firefighters have physically demanding jobs they perform while they wear heavy clothing and carry heavy gear up and down hills and stairs on calls. He said the leading cause of death for firefighters is heart attacks. He said helping firefighters keep in shape will reduce workers compensation claims.
For anyone who wishes to follow progress on construction of the new station, the department will post video on its Facebook page taken by an aerial drone operated by local resident Thomas-John Veilleux, who is sharing the video with the department at no charge.
Tuesday and Wednesday the section of Leighton Road in front of the station site will be down to one lane as a Greater Augusta Utility District crew will be working there to install valves in the water main under Leighton Road to allow for the installation of an eight-inch water line to the fire station. The station, according to Andy Begin of the Greater Augusta Utility District, will have a six-inch “fire service” water line running into it for a fire suppression system, a hydrant outside the building and a small water line for domestic water use inside the building.
Keith Edwards — 621-5647
Twitter: @kedwardskj
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