Renovation Road
The application period for the Assistance to Firefighters Fire Station Construction Grants closed last week, and the wait to see how the $210 million will be allocated begins. I’m anxious to see how many departments submitted applications and how they breakdown between new stations and renovations. I suspect FEMA will be in for a surprise when sees how many departments are in need of assistance.
Several architects I talked to were slammed with helping fire departments submit grant applications. A few chiefs of small departments e-mailed to ask me whether it was worth asking for small sums — $225,000 — and I encouraged them to submit. I think the best step FEMA took was capping the grants at $5 million per station, which hopefully will let more volunteer departments share in the $210 million.
I also had an interesting conversation with Don Dommer, a registered architect for 41 years. In that time, he has seen a lot of changes in the fire service and public-services architecture.
Dommer told me that between the end of World War II and the late seventies, fire departments tended to build structures that were simply functional and sufficient. Many of the buildings that were built in that time period now not only are outdated, but aren’t functional for the fire departments’ expanded responsibilities.
“In the late eighties, the buildings were not much better,” Dommer said. “The fire service has evolved and is much more sophisticated about the issues of structural upgrades, gender issues, turnout gear in the bay areas and so on.”
Even in the past 10 years of the Station Style design awards, I have seen significant changes in station floor plans, exterior designs and requirements. Yet the renovation category receives the fewest entries year after year. And Dommer said his firm has not had contracts for many station renovations since the early part of this decade. “We have one now and I worked on three federal stimulus grant applications for six or seven stations; three were renovations,” he said.
What percentage of the grant dollars will go to renovations rather than new fire stations? I look forward to finding out.
