This facility received a Shares Facilities Silver Award in Firehouse's 2020 Station Design Awards. Find the full list of winners here.
The new, state-of-the-art Mount Horeb Public Safety Building unites the Mount Horeb Area Joint Fire Department and the Mount Horeb Police Department in one facility. Layout and design of the building considered the individual department’s needs and multipurpose solutions to maximize efficiency and accessibility throughout the building.
The fire department was designed to minimize response time and get staff to the scene as quickly as possible. The two-story wing offers two stairway entry points and a fire pole, which allows firefighters to get from bed to engine in fewer than 30 seconds. A drive-through five-bay garage supports all apparatus along with full sight lines to apron and bay from dispatch. The fire department wing was designed with education and training for both departments in mind.
A large, shared training classroom that has adjacent storage, a conference room and a study room allows for flexible hands-on instruction. Other amenities include a kitchen/dining area, bedrooms and lounges. The facility was designed to allow multiple training opportunities indoors and out, including: a window that’s directly off of the bay for bailouts; removable railings on the mezzanine for training in ladder operations; an on-site fire training structure for search, rescue and live burns training and police breach and clear training; and hydrants at the rear of the building for water supply operations.
The building also offers accessibility and security features for emergency scenarios, including: shared educational space to serve as an emergency operations center for full operation during emergency or lockdown; an EMS treatment room that affords easy access to emergency vehicles; zones for decontamination and containment of workplace hazards, including a ventilated gear room and two gear extractors; and an emergency/9-1-1 button that’s in the main entrance vestibule.
The combined building reduces cost and waste and creates an inherent connection between public safety departments.
Architect/Firm Name: Bray Architects.
