In Quarters: Manassas, VA, Fire & Rescue Station #21

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

Manassas Fire & Rescue Station #21 is the first building that was developed as part of the city’s strategic plan to provide expanded public safety services to the surrounding developing community. The station stands as a landmark civic building and extends the architectural vernacular of the city’s downtown core beyond its historic district.

The design team assisted the client in determining both the operational and functional program requirements for the station through a series of tours of other recently completed fire stations and stakeholder meetings. Several possible sites were evaluated to determine whether they would meet the city’s critical goal of a two-minute response time.

The design team explored multiple options for one and two-story stations, examining the effect of both schemes on site development and response.

Site selection and the subsequent programming and design process were an open collaboration between the design team and the community and included response time mapping, multiple concept site plans, multiple design options and holistic budget development for the city council. The community’s sharing of experiences and viewpoints yielded a design that immediately projected a sense of belonging to the community.

Manassas’ original fire station, which today serves as Town Hall, served as inspiration for the new design. The concept provided an operationally modern fire and rescue facility with a façade that borrows form and architectural elements from the original station, which is an element that the Station Design Awards judges complimented. The blending of traditional and contemporary architectural elements recognizes the city’s mission to provide state-of-the-art public safety services, including career staffing, while paying homage to the city’s long history of service provided by its volunteer fire and rescue personnel. The new station provides a rapid response layout wherein the career department staffs three shifts of 19 personnel for 24/7 and the Greater Manassas Volunteer Rescue Squad provides additional staffing in the evenings and on weekends.

The facility includes bunkrooms, a dayroom, a kitchen, restrooms/locker rooms, four-fold door drive-through apparatus bays with gear and shop storage, volunteer offices, a training classroom, a training tower, an extrication pad, SCBA services, and a return-to station protocol personal decontamination vestibule.

The training tower includes props for multiple rescue certifications, including balcony rescue, window rollout, confined space (through a sewer access) and Stokes basket (through the open stairwell). Continuity of training without needing to leave the site allows uninterrupted rapid response without duplication of staffing. One of the Station Design Awards judges remarked, “The training tower and extrication pad set a high bar for regional readiness.”

The station was designed with flexibility and future growth in mind. Office spaces are adaptable to support a diverse station population and evolving needs. Bunkrooms allow for different sleeping arrangements. The apparatus bay is sized for current and future station needs.

Architect: Samaha Associates