Despite going back the drawing board for a second time, city officials continue to work behind-the-scenes rethinking plans for the new Ironton fire station to bring it within the city’s budget.

Saturday, July 01, 2000

Despite going back the drawing board for a second time, city officials continue to work behind-the-scenes rethinking plans for the new Ironton fire station to bring it within the city’s budget.

"We’re still over the $1 million budget," Ironton Fire Chief Tom Runyon said. "We hope to be able to use pre-engineered steel beams to help reduce cost and bring it within the budget."

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

They later sent the plans through a second course of redesign, which resulted in smaller rooms, fewer amenities and less ground space between the department and the sidewalk.

"We’ve eliminated as much as we can on the new building," Runyon said. "There’s really nothing else we can eliminate. The plans include everything that is regulation and will still result in an efficient building for years to come."

Officials are planning a confrence call with architects in the next week or two to discuss a few more changes, Runyon said.

"We hope we can use the pre-engineered beams to help bring the cost within the budget and get this project going," he said. "We don’t want to spend money on anything that will be obsolete within the next 20 or 30 years and we don’t want to endanger our manpower to get the building."

New station plans call for four bays that are deeper and higher than the current station to house modern fire trucks such as the new ladder truck – currently housed in the old American Electric Power building on South Third Street.

"The new ladder truck is kept in the old AEP building because it won’t fit in the current building," Runyon said. "The only time we can park it next to the fire station is when weather conditions are nice. Sitting in the weather can really harm the truck if we’re not careful."

Other new station specifications call for a ventilation system to evacuate diesel fumes from the modern trucks, a decontamination shower area for hazardous material conditions and a separate sealed room for firefighter response gear protection.

"Federal regulation requires us to keep the bunker gear away from the diesel and gas fumes that are emitted from the trucks," he said. "We don’t have a room like that right now and those fumes not only break down the gear but they also can make them become combustible – which is a hazard for those wearing the gear."

The 1920-21 era building is both electrically obsolete and expensive to heat and cool, Runyon said.

"The walls of our current house are non-insulated," he said. "They have nothing to block the outside weather from coming in. Our electrical wires are also outdated – they’re not even workers’ comp compliant."

Although so much is outdated, officials are working hard to bring the project within the city’s reach, Runyon said.