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November 28, 2012

Work on Fire Station 9 continues

By Jessica Bruha The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — Fire Station 9 construction is moving slowly but surely at 3001 E. Alameda St.

Workers stuck rebar down into the walls and poured concrete in them as well Monday afternoon as they worked on a bathroom that also will serve as a safe room for firefighters.

Block walls to house fire trucks and the bathroom/safe room are the most prominent features of the new station right now. Norman Deputy Fire Chief Jim Bailey said he hopes the next step will be putting on the roof.

“Hopefully it will be up before winter,” Bailey said.

Fire Station 9 will cost about $3,795,000 and will be 15,149 square feet. The cost is covered by a public safety sales tax that was passed in May 2008. The tax also covered Fire Station 8 on the west side of Norman.

Fire stations 8 and 9 are the first to include safe rooms, and Bailey said they will continue to build safe rooms in the future.

“Firefighters are people, too. They’re susceptible to tornadoes as well,” he said.

Also, like Station 8, it will be a LEED-certified fire station.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, a LEED structure is built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health, including sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

By building the fire station this way, they will be able to keep a lot of waste from being piled up into a landfill. In addition, it will also have the only geothermal heating and cooling system, helping with energy efficiency.

Bailey said as soon as the new station opens, it will immediately start responding to a tremendous amount of calls.

“It will relieve a lot of runs from (stations) 1 and 3,” he said. “Those two are the busiest stations (in Norman).”

Station 9 will be the largest station in the city. It is designed to house two fire engine companies and will include facilities such as a kitchen, day room, sleeping area, locker room, weight training room and a training area.

It also will have two police offices in the front so officers in that area can file reports and other related business at the fire station, instead of driving all the way to the police station, Bailey said.

Jessica Bruha366-3540jbruha@normantranscript.com

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