New VA Station Adds Classic Feature: the Firehouse Pole

Construction is nearly finished on North Stafford’s Fire and Rescue Station 14, with a July move-in planned for the fire crews assigned to that company.

Construction on the station began in 2017. Once open, it will replace two temporary living facilities on the property—an old farmhouse and a double-wide trailer—that firefighters have used as a makeshift station over the last decade.

The new station at 53 Shelton Shop Road is a 17,600-square-foot, two-story facility. The building has three drive-through apparatus bays and all the latest creature comforts of home.

It even has a classic fireman’s pole to allow firefighters quick access to their garaged equipment at street level from their second-floor sleeping quarters. No other station in Stafford County has a fireman’s pole.

Joe Grainger, Stafford County’s assistant fire and rescue chief, said the station was designed in a two-story style to blend into the North Stafford suburban community. Stafford’s two other newest fire stations are both one-story structures.

“There’s also a kitchen, a day room and a training classroom,” said Grainger. “Upstairs there are bunk rooms, lockers, office space and showers.”

The fire station has to contain all of those amenities because “fire crews spend about one-third of their life on duty, in that station,” he said.

Grainger said the station also has “a gear shop, a tool room, an air compressor room, office space for the supervisor and a small gym.”

The new building features integrated fans in the garage as part of a direct diesel-exhaust capture system that removes toxic vehicle exhaust fumes from the building.

Station 14 will be staffed around the clock every day by four firefighter paramedics or firefighter emergency medical technicians, with a captain or lieutenant at the station overseeing the teams.

Not only will the new fire station be a blend of professional workspace and a comfortable area to sleep, relax or unwind, it will also serve as a training facility.

A new two-story tower behind the station will give firefighting teams a place to practice search-and-rescue operations, deploy and discharge hoses, and hone forcible entry techniques.

There are 12 fire stations in Stafford and three standalone rescue squads. Fire Station 14 covers the State Route 610 corridor between Aquia Harbor and Rock Hill. Station 13, located at 1326 Courthouse Road, is the department’s training facility and Station 11, a former EMS station in Falmouth, no longer exists.

The total cost for the new fire station was $7.7 million, which includes planning and design, site acquisition and construction.

Until the official move-in day in July, the station’s firefighters will continue to respond to emergencies from their temporary quarters.

“We’ll be open for business the entire time, and have been for a little bit more than a decade,” said Grainger.

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