In Quarters: Spotsylvania, VA, Fire & Rescue Station 6

This facility received the Renovations Notable award in the 2025 Firehouse Station Design Awards. Find the full list of winners here. 

Spotsylvania Company 6 is the busiest station in the department, but it was severely undersized, including a cramped kitchen and dayroom, minimal apparatus support space and 11 personnel sharing bunk beds in three small bedrooms. The apparatus bays were overcrowded. This included the fact that the turnout gear, an SCBA compressor, laundry appliances, electrical panels and janitorial space lined the walls.

Despite a tight site, the county chose to expand the facility, driven not only by cost considerations but also by the lack of available and affordable land in the dense commercial area. The Station Design Awards judges applauded the overall end result. One judged noted, “The team did a great job to remediate the issues of the previous layout.”

The renovated and expanded station now includes 14 single-user bunkrooms, four single user shower rooms, spacious common areas, a new lobby and public restroom, and attic space for mechanical and communications equipment. The existing living space was reconfigured to include two offices, a locker room, a laundry room and a shop/SCBA room.

A separate addition on the far side of the bays relocated all of the equipment that previously was stored in the apparatus bays, including gear storage, equipment decontamination, EMS supplies and electrical equipment. To fit the building program (and sufficient parking) on the small parcel, communications equipment, HVAC equipment and water heaters are located in the attic space of one of the additions.

The exterior of the additions was designed to blend seamlessly with the existing Colonial influenced architecture, using matching materials, eave heights and roof slopes. The building footprint was shaped to stay within the setbacks and to allow the rooflines to merge with the existing hip roof without creating drainage issues. The previously understated main public entry point now is celebrated with a portico and building-mounted signage.

Because of budget constraints, there was no funding for a temporary facility. Therefore, the design ensured continuous station operations without compromising long-term functionality. A key strategy was constructing new mechanical, electrical and communications rooms within the additions, making them fully operational before the renovation of the existing facility. The original building was back-fed from the new systems, with ductwork entering through the only gable wall. Corridors were connected to existing window locations to limit structural modifications.

Phase One built additions on two sides of the building that together included all of the spaces that are necessary to function as a fire station. Phase Two built temporary exterior passageways. Phase Three remodeled the existing area while response occurred through the temporary passageways. Once the remodel scope was completed, the temporary corridors were dismantled, and the sitework was finalized.

Architect: BKV Group