Growth fuels need for new fire, ambulance facility

WASILLA — As the population in the Mat-Su Borough continues to increase, there also is a steady need to build new infrastructure projects like roads, schools and fire stations.

It’s growth that’s behind the addition of the new Station 5-1 under construction off S. Terrace Court off E. Fireweed Road, 1.4 miles from Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele said that mileage is important.

The department received a four rating in 2003, the last time the Insurance Services Office reviewed the department. And at that time the group identified the need to locate another aerial ladder truck in the area to help protect the hospital and the growing number of new homes in the area.

Steele said the department used $1 million in state grants to buy a shiny, new 100-foot aerial platform truck in 2009. But the big new truck doesn’t fit in the fire station near the hospital.

So to get the maximum credit with the insurance rating agency for the purchase of the aerial truck, the department began the process of building a new station that could house it and other equipment.

But for ISO to give the department full points for its aerial truck, it also needs to be located within 1.5 miles of the hospital. It’s currently housed at the Seward Meridian station, too far away for full credit from insurance raters.

Mat-Su Borough Assembly approved the purchase of four acres off E. Blue Lupine Drive at a fair market value of $720,000 in November 2012.

Howdie Inc. owner Todd Nugent said his company expects to hand the keys to the finished building over to the borough in about a month — less than a year from design to move in. He said by using the design-build process for the building, borough was able to rollout the project more quickly.

KPB Architects in Anchorage designed the facility, Nugent said.

Chief Steele said the new $8-million, 27,000-square-foot station serves emergency services and Central Mat-Su Fire and was funded through Certificates of Participation.

Nugent said the apparatus bay alone is about a third of that. Its five bays will house two ambulances, the aerial platform truck, an engine pumper tanker and a reserve engine, Steele said.

He said some of the functions — such as the Central Mat-Su Fire Marshal’s office and Central EMS office — presently located at Station 6-1 on Lucille Street in Wasilla will move over to Station 5-1 next month.

Steele said the department’s next ISO review is set for 2018. “This will give us full credit.”

The state-of-the-art building includes a room to refill rescue air tanks, a hose washer and dryer, a 50,000-gallon cistern under the station with a pump that can move 1,000 gallons a minute into a tanker, a locker room for turnout gear, a decontamination room, training labs, a workout room, 11 bunk rooms, a kitchen and a living room area with a deck.

Chief Steele said the addition of residential quarters to the firehouse reflects the department intent to move toward full-time firefighters.

During a walk though of the building Friday morning, Nugent said the facility also will be the first in the borough with a fire station alerting system.

He said each bunkroom will have a switch staff can flip that will segregate which calls come to their room and a lighting system to help wake them up more slowly. Then as they make their way from the residential area to the lockers and their turnout gear, displays positioned throughout the building will show responders a Google map of the incident’s location and incident details from dispatch, Nugent said.

Using the design-build process also means he learns a lot more about what a fire station needs, Nugent said. He said when the facility is turned over to the borough it will be fully outfitted and ready to go — right down to the dishes in the kitchen.

Howdie’s past projects include Stations 6-3 and 6-6. And the contractor is building 13-1 in Caswell Lakes now, Nugent said.

At the project’s peak, he said about 50 people were working on it.

Every year, one of the company’s projects seems to catch the public’s eye, he said. This year Station 5-1 along the Parks Highway is that project.

“It’s a modern, good-looking station,” he said.

The goal was to design and build a structure that fit the space and would serve the community for the next 50 years, Nugent said.

As the population of the Valley increases, so does the call volume for emergency services, Chief Steele said.

“Our call volume has gone up 61 percent in the last five years,” he said.

The borough is trying to catch up, but it’s not adding stations as fast as the area is adding new homes and businesses, he said.

The borough’s fire stations needs include replacing the training complex at Station 6-2; replacing Station 5-2; Caswell Lakes is adding a station now; and Willow is looking at upgrades to three of its stations.

“We are way behind on building these stations or upgrading existing stations,” Steele said. “And that can directly impact what customers pay for insurance.”

He said the department is planning a community open house in the near future for Station 5-1, but the date has not been set.

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.