There's a double ambulance bay, so there's no need to back in a rig, an industrial-strength washing machine, a kitchen, gym and walls separating the dormitories for privacy.
It doesn't have potentially toxic swaths of asbestos threatening to fall from the ceiling.
Station No. 2 is one of the first stations to be renovated or completely rebuilt as part of a $17.5 million project to fix or replace five of the city's six original firehouses and add two new ones.
"It's quite a difference," said paramedic John Wilson, who showed off the new rooms in Station No. 2, which opened in December.
The new station at Palmetto Park Road and Northwest Ninth Avenue still smells like new paint. The day room, complete with six lounge chairs and a TV, opens onto a patio with a covered grill. The room also adjoins a stainless-steel kitchen, much improved from the A-frame kitchen that had open grates in the floor.
"I called [the old station] the cesspool," Wilson said about the former station at Palmetto Park and Northwest 12th Avenue.
With asbestos and all, it will be used as a training facility for the Fire Department, said the department's public information officer Frank Correggio. There is no danger unless the asbestos is disturbed, he said. The new station's dormitories are separated by walls, rather than flimsy curtains, giving the paramedics privacy. Before, men and women shared the same bathroom. The gym has progressed beyond an abs roller and old exercise machines to weights and treadmills. Wilson was quick to show off a new storage room, lined with open red lockers used for airing out firefighter gear.
In a word, he's thrilled, he said.
Station No. 1 on North Federal is getting new east and west wings and an updated ambulance bay. Station No. 4 on Northwest 51st Street and Station No. 3 on South Ocean Boulevard also are being renovated. All three projects should be finished by the end of the year, Deputy Chief Tom Wood said.
Station No. 5 should get started this year, Wood said. Station No. 6 is in good condition and not scheduled for repairs.
As for the new stations, Station No. 7, built to serve the northwest section of Boca Raton, opened in June on Jog Road. Station 8, under construction on Dixie Highway and Southwest 18th Street, will be completed in April to serve the southern part of the city, Wood said. The areas for Station 8, and until recently Station 7, have been staffed by other fire stations during peak times only.
Boca Raton Fire-Rescue Services began its drive for new stations in 1999. In 2002, city residents approved a $17.5 million bond to pay for them.
"We did a study with the city based on two factors -- the need for additional facilities based on lengthy response times, and on the existing structures and how they didn't meet needs," Wood said.
The emergency medical services permit the department gets from Palm Beach County says it must answer 90 percent of its calls in eight minutes or less. In 1999, it was barely making it. In 2004 the city answered 91.3 percent of its nearly 13,000 calls on time, averaging just more than five minutes a call, Wood said.
"The facilities meet all current codes, all the current features they should have. They're clean, holding up good since they opened," Wood said, adding that the paramedics and firefighters working in the new quarters are satisfied. "The citizens are getting a pretty good product for what they paid."
Residents living west of Boca Raton also will be getting some updated firehouses, said Palm Beach County Fire Capt. Don DeLucia, as improvements to four stations are budgeted for this fiscal year. The county is negotiating to put a new station on Southwest 18th Street with improved capabilities, DeLucia said.
There are eight fire stations west of Boca Raton city limits, he said.
Stations Nos. 51, 52, 53 and 54 will get increased staff and extra rescue trucks or rescue engines.
