Going back to the drawing board for a third time, city officials are rethinking the layout for the new Ironton fire station – and exploring ways to reduce the bill for the project.

Thursday, July 20, 2000

Going back to the drawing board for a third time, city officials are rethinking the layout for the new Ironton fire station – and exploring ways to reduce the bill for the project.

City officials, engineers and architects will meet Friday to discuss a way to bring the project back in line with city budget projections, Ironton Mayor Bob Cleary said.

"The plans for the new fire station are still over budget," Cleary said. "We only have a budget of about $1 million and with recent the job losses the city has had, it makes it tough to exceed that budget."

Cleary said several ways to cut the cost have been proposed, including using pre-engineered steel beams.

"If we can use the pre-engineered beams to build the fire station, we hope to be able to bring the project within budget," he said. "We are going to meet with the engineers and architects to explore the possibility of using the beams."

Late last spring, Fire Fee Committee members and city officials took the fire station plans back to the drawing board after the Columbus-based architectural firm returned plans with a cost estimate that far exceeded the original $1 million target price.

Committee members later sent the plans through a second redesign, which resulted in smaller rooms, fewer amenities and less grounds space between the department and the sidewalk.

"The building plans that we have now call for a station that will include everything that is within fire regulations," Cleary said. "I believe the end result will provide an efficient building for years to come."

The plans call for four bays, which are deeper and higher than the current station, to allow firefighters to park new, taller equipment, like the city’s ladder truck. A ventilation system to evacuate diesel fumes from the new trucks, a decontamination shower area for hazardous material conditions and a separate door-sealed room for firefighter response gear protection are also in the new drawings.

"We don’t want to spend money on something that will be obsolete 20 or 30 years from now, so hopefully these steal beems currently being considered will work for us," Clear said. "Hopefully the meeting will result in good news."