One of the most vital and integral buildings to any community is the fire station, and these facilities are built to take quite a bit of punishment. That durable construction comes out of a need to provide accommodations—as well as certain level of protection—to some of a city's most valuable assets: its firefighters and the high-end apparatus they use.
At his Wednesday session at the 2019 Station Design Conference in Rosemont, IL, Rob Manns of Manns Woodward Studios discussed the elements that go into a modern firehouse's apparatus bay.
Single-Story Stations
- Apparatus bays require sites with a lot of space
- Bays adjoining program spaces are equipped with the "safest response practices and most frontage."
- Less air circulation needed thanks to the lack of elevators, stairs and shafts
- Clear spans easily created
Two-Story Stations
- Bays can fit on compact sites with less space
- Vertical circulation needed for the response paths for stairs and poles
- Because of its height, the walls and frames tend to be more complicated
- Clear spans can be hard and expensive to create
Hybrid Stations
- Allows balanced design approach on a compact site
- Stairs and elevators usually needed
- Tough choices might be needed in order to avoid uneven distribution between stories
Bay Monitoring
- Security and alert systems can be integrated into the apparatus bay as a safeguard for personnel and equipment.
- Cameras throughout the bay let firefighters keep tabs on apparatus aisles, making sure they're free of obstructions.
Support Spaces
Apparatus bays also can accommodate other features besides simply being a place to park vehicles. Some of the additional elements can include:
- storage and ready area for turnout gear
- decontamination area that includes eye wash, dryers, compartment sinks and gear extractors
- toilet area keeps firefighters still contaminated from calls away from living spaces
- out-of-service area, which can store apparatus, tools and other equipment removed from service
- storage rooms for EMS supplies, fire equipment and SCBA gear
