This facility received the Career 2 Notable Award in the 2021 Firehouse Station Design Awards. Find the full list of winners here.
Harris County Emergency Services District No. 60 and Sheldon Community Fire & Rescue held the grand opening of the new Station No. 2 and Paul V. Reed Training Center in May 2019. The facility has dual roles as a fire station for the local community and a training center for Sheldon Community Fire & Rescue. The key training center components for the site consist of a large burn tower and a drafting pond. A large radio tower serves the local district. Storefront systems allow natural daylight into most of the interior spaces in the building, which reduces the amount of artificial lighting that’s required. Station No. 2 is a critical facility; therefore, all exterior windows, doors and other envelope components are rated to resist 140 mph winds, and the building foundation was elevated to reduce the chance of future flooding issues.
Features of the 14,192-square-foot station include a gym, eight sets of dormitories, four pantries, and a full-size kitchen and dayroom. An exhaust system that’s in the apparatus bay reduces exhaust emissions when vehicles are started in the bay. The bays also include a gear extractor for fire gear, a gear dryer and an SCBA cascade filling system.
The training center’s seven-story burn building is equipped with six burn rooms, a state-of-the-art smoke system and temperature control alarms, for safety. The training center also is set up for high-angle and confined-space rescue. There is a built-in standpipe system for high-rise and mid-rise operations.
Architect/Firm Name: Joiner Architects
