'Everything but the Dalmation':
New firehouse -- city's first since 1970 -- has features not found in other local stations
Copyright News-Ledger, July 4, 2007
ABOVE: Firefighter Ken Wong hoists a coil of firehouse up three stories in Station 45's training tower
News-Ledger photo
By Steve Marschke
News-Ledger Editor
West Sacramento residents are invited to check out the city’s new firehouse this Saturday – and it’s a safe bet many of them will find the new facility pretty nifty.
The 28,000-square foot building on Lake Washington Blvd. (near Jefferson Blvd. and the Nugget center) has room for the fire department’s administrative offices as well as a police service center, a full complement of firefighting equipment and personnel, and space for training and fitness work.
The police service center is located just inside of the station’s front door.
“It’s a service center where the police officers can come in and to their reports at the end of their shift,” explained Captain Gary Fredericksen of the West Sacramento Fire Department. “It allows them to stay in the Southport area. There will be limited hours during the week for citizens to come in and file reports, too.”
The police center isn’t up and running yet. But the administrative offices are staffed – with room for future expansion – and the fire station began answering fire calls in early June.
“The engine company has three personnel, there’s a truck company which has three personnel, and there’s an on-duty chief out of here,” explained Fredericksen. “So there are a total of seven people that live here day in and day out.”
The on-duty firefighters live in an upstairs dormitory. Near the bunks are a lounge with a TV, a generous-sized kitchen, a study area, restrooms and showers, and a couple of the traditional brass poles that will deposit them in the vehicle bay in a matter of seconds. Firefighters work a 24-hour-on, 24-hour off pattern with several days of rest, in a pattern that averages out to 56-hour work weeks. Most of the station’s facilities serve male firefighters, but a separate and smaller dorm area and restroom are available for women firefighters.
Captain Gary Frederickson with one of the sliding poles upstairs in the station: placing your body weight on the paule causes the three hinged doors below it to open, making way for a slide into the vehicle bay.
(News-Ledger photos by Steve Marschke)
The kitchen’s appliances automatically shut off when a fire call comes in, so firefighters aren’t left asking each other “did you remember to turn off the stove?” while en route to a call. And a venting system in the vehicle bay switches on when a call is received, blowing truck exhaust out of the bay doors.
Downstairs near the truck bay is a “turnout room,” where each staff member stores his firefighting gear. That room automatically vents out into the building’s exterior.
“Basically, the turnout gear is always going into a bad environment,” explained Fredericksen. “They’re always off-gassing after a fire call. Here, though, we also have a policy that the guys have to wash them after every fire. They can smell pretty bad otherwise.”
Behind the station is a three-story tower that sees use for training.
“We have a tower out back,” said Fredericksen. “We can throw ladders up and ‘rescue’ people out of the windows. We can pull hoses up there. We have dummies weighted at 200 pounds that we work with.”
Fire trucks need to be able to pump 1,500 gallons of water per minute, and the new station has a 20,000 gallon tank underground to facilitate those tests.
“Before that, we had to go to Sacramento for that,” said Fredericksen.
The new station also fills a geographical hole in the service provided by the local fire department. The city has another fire station farther south, as well as three more north of the barge of the canal. But the area in the northern part of Southport – such as the Gateway Drive area – wasn’t very close to any of them.
“By putting in a second Southport station, we’re dividing (Southport) in half,” said Fredericksen. “Response times that were seven or eight minutes are going to be half of that.”
West Sacramento firefighters were among those who helped out at the devastating Tahoe-area fire last week – a disaster that claimed over 200 homes.
“We sent seven firefighters to Tahoe,” Fredericksen recounted. “Now (on Monday) it’s 85 percent contained. Our crews came back last Thursday. It went well – they worked the first three days very hard on the line. The fire burned very hot. Usually after homes burn, you have garbage and stuff left over. This was like a war zone. Everything was burned very hot and very clean. Some of the younger guys had never seen a fire like that.”
Care to visit the new fire station?
A grand opening is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, and doors will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2040 Lake Washington Boulevard. The best way to enter is to take Stonegate Drive to Lake Washington Boulevard, then turn west to the station’s parking lot. For more information, call 617-4600.