April 06--Construction is set to begin this week on a new fire station for the Boulder Fire Department's new Wildland Fire Training Center, which will house the department's wildland fire unit.
The permit for the new station at 6075 Reservoir Road was approved in late March and Boulder Fire Chief Larry Donner said crews are hoping to get started this week and plan an official ground-breaking sometime this month.
"We're really pretty excited about this," Donner said.
The permit lists the new station at 11,268 square feet, with 7,230 square feet for offices, bunk rooms, restrooms, equipment storage and a kitchen area along with a 4,038 square-foot apparatus bay.
Donner said the total cost of building the station will be $4.1 million, and it should be ready to open by next spring.
Currently, the fire department's wildland division -- which responds to wildland fires and does fire mitigation -- has its equipment stored at other Boulder fire stations in any spare space.
"If you scatter your resources into a little bit of space here and there, even when it comes to starting your day you are gathering personnel and the equipment you need to go to work," Donner said. "Having it all in one place will let them get their day started more efficiently."
Donner also pointed out that the house where the wildland firefighters had been staying at 19th Street and Violet Avenue was washed out during the September flooding. The firefighters for now are staying at a building on Pearl Parkway, but Donner said a new headquarters for them was needed.
"Even if we hadn't been planning on moving them (before the flood), fate would have dictated we move them," Donner said.
Donner also said the new station's location is more suited for the type of work the wildland unit does.
"This station is a little different from other stations that we have that are in neighborhoods to protect structures," Donner said. "The wildland unit is very active, especially in the summer, with mitigation projects on open space and training with cooperating agencies in the county and obviously responding to any wildfires in the backdrop. This will allow us to give them a better place to coordinate that work, out of."
Contact Camera Staff Writer Mitchell Byars at 303-473-1329 or [email protected]
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