Third station at Lake Cle Elum to be started soon
by Lyn Derrick
FD7 CHIEF Russ Hobbs (left) and Bullfrog Road Fire Station Chief Ray Risdon (right) watch traffic zooming by on I-90 as they stand in the bay door of the newly completed Station 73, off I-90’s Golf Course Road exit west of Cle Elum. That traffic is one of the reasons this station is the busiest in the fire district. It will eventually be the biggest at 15,000 square feet, said Hobbs, and will be the first in the district to be “manned” with paid 12-hour, and then 24-hour fire and medical crews. The Hundley family, who donated the original property for the old station, donated another 1.5 acres allowing for future expansion. That expansion, besides providing living quarters for crews, provide for administrative offices, and a separate training facility with meeting rooms available to the community. The plan is to dedicated that separate facility to Mary E. Hundley because of her kindness and generosity to the fire district. N.K.C. TRIBUNE/Jana Stoner photo
CLE ELUM – Picture this: To the east toward Cle Elum there’s a seven-car pile up at milepost 79 on I-90. To the west, closer to Easton, five separate vehicles slide on ice and rollover into the median between I-90’s east and westbound lanes.
It happens.
Sitting between these accidents at the Golf Course Road exit off I-90 (Exit 73), Fire District 7’s Station 73, once a 1980s pole building, has completed Phase 1 of its transformation into a state-of-the-art facility better equipped to handle multiple vehicle incidents like the one just described – as well as other emergency and fire needs in upper Kittitas County.
THE OUTSIDE of Fire Station 73 at the Golf Course Road, Exit 73 off of I-90. With its ease of access to all points east and west on the interstate, 73 will eventually be the fire district’s centerpiece. Discussions are underway now to make it a shared use facility – with the possibility of Hospital District 2 housing a medic unit there to help improve response times. Hobbs said it could be used as an upper county disaster operation center, too, bringing together Forest Service, DNR and Fire District personnel to coordinate response to that type of emergency. Risdon said this used to be a pipedream, but now they can see it as a “realistic” goal. N.K.C. TRIBUNE/Lyn Derrick photo
Construction on Fire Station 73 began in October, and was completed in March. Construction on Fire Station 72 at the east end of Cle Elum at the junction of Hwy 970 and Airport Road began about the same time and was completed in February.
STATION 72, at the intersection of Hwy 970 and Airport Road in Cle Elum – at 8,000 square feet – replaces the old 1800 square foot building. An improved facility like this one improves the district’s chances of attracting volunteers, said Chief Hobbs. He’s already seeing “volunteers coming out of the woodwork.” “I thought it would,” he said, “but you never know. I was keeping my fingers crossed and it’s nice to see that happening.” N.K.C. TRIBUNE/Lyn Derrick photo
Both are the result of a CTED Grant, and partnership between FD7 and Life Support, the organization who took on the fundraising that made these new stations a reality.
“This would never have happened without Life Support,” said FD7 Fire Chief, Russ Hobbs. “We were so far away from being able to build on our own. This was a blessing.”
Right now, at the end of Phase 1 of construction, Airport Road’s Station 72 is the bigger of the two facilities. It has about 8,000 square feet compared to Station 73’s 2,500. Although, as funding is raised, Station 73, as the busiest station in the fire district will eventually outdistance 72, 15,000 to 12,000 square feet respectively.
“People ask why so big?” said Ray Risdon, chief of the district’s Bullfrog Road Station, and project manager for the new buildings.
“Because we’re building for the future,” he said. “The worse thing you can do is build something like this and be short of space down the road.”
The idea is to create facilities capable of answering the community’s expanding needs for the next 50 years. Planned expansions include living quarters for paid firefighters, administrative offices and training facilities.
Acknowledging this will take more money, Risdon said, “We’ll be engaging in funding research to see what kind of options are available for federal grants or low interest loans – basically looking at all alternatives for completing the facilities.”
In the meantime, they’re working to complete a third new fire station at Lake Cle Elum – hopefully sometime this summer. Once everything is covered cost-wise at Stations 72 and 73, a projected $2-300,000 will be left to apply to the Lake Cle Elum Fire Station. It’ll be about the same size as Station 73, but more rustic looking to fit its location.
RAY RISDON, chief of FD7’s Bullfrog Road Station and project manager for the new fire stations, is dwarfed by the spacious interior of Station 72. N.K.C. TRIBUNE/Lyn Derrick photo
Accolades for the design of the new stations go to David Shcott according to Risdon. Shcott is the principal architect out of Wenatchee who understood what FD7 wanted and didn’t want.
“We didn’t want a Taj Mahal with a lot of useless amenities,” Risdon said.
They wanted facilities that were practical, functional and good for the environment.
“They’re enormously energy efficient,” Risdon explained, pointing out the radiant in floor heat, overhead fans to circulate the heat, excellent insulation and the controlled environment. Translucent panels let in natural light during the day, cutting down on the need to use electrical lights – and when they do need lighting it comes from fixtures that only use 2 - 32 watt bulbs. The facilities are wired to support backup generators to address the stations’ emergency power needs. There are showers and restroom facilities for the firefighters, as well as mechanical rooms, storage rooms and both facilities have decontamination rooms.
That’s where something called an extractor, a huge commercial machine to clean and maintain fire fighter gear, will eventually be housed.
“Regular dryers and washing machines just don’t cut it,” Risdon said.
BESIDES its four bays, Station 72’s length doubles the equipment storage space. All the new stations were designed to be built in two phases. As the district nears the end of phase one, they are researching options to fund expansion plans. N.K.C. TRIBUNE/Lyn Derrick photo
While expansion is at the back of their minds, right now FD7 wants to enjoy the size and quality of the buildings they’ve just built.
They’re especially pleased with the ability to eased the crowding of equipment that was overwhelming old stations.
“The challenge at existing stations like Bullfrog Road was they were crammed with apparatus,” Risdon explained.
It’s a problem that’s been bad enough in the past that units used to fight brush fires, which weren’t needed in the winter, were sometimes stored in firefighters’ barns.
“A lot of the apparatus was overwhelming existing stations – now we’re able to free up some of that space,” Risdon said.
Right off the bat at the new Fire Station 72, a telesquirt, mobile air compressor and mini-rescue unit – joined the fire engine, brush truck and 5,000-gallon water tender that were busting the seams of the old building.
BESIDES taking in the old station’s fire engine, brush truck and 5,000-gallon water tender – equipment from other stations can now be housed at this site, easing overcrowding. Plus, the mobile air compressor, which used to be powered up with a diesel engine, can now be plugged in and run off this station’s electrical power. N.K.C. TRIBUNE/Lyn Derrick photo
“In the old station that water tender used to stick out into the meeting room,” said Risdon.
One resource they may make room for further west at Station 73 is Hospital District 2’s medic unit.
“We’ve been working well with the Hospital District,” said Risdon. “I’ve been in discussions with Mark Raaka about their need to cut response times to the west end of the county. If their medic unit were housed at Station 73 it would help them provide faster service.”
While there’s no definitive decision yet, because of the large area the Hospital District has to cover, Operations Manager, Mark Raaka said, “It would be helpful if we had another location a little further west, but we’re still trying to work out all the details.”
“Of course it has to be a win/win and work for both of us,” said Risdon.
First on the agenda of events for the two newly completed stations is a party for the 74 volunteer firefighters who’ve earned the right to a private celebration as a reward and acknowledgement of their dedication to the emergency care and fire needs of this community.
THE two old, pole building fire stations will disappear once new fire station facilities are expanded. N.K.C. TRIBUNE/Lyn Derrick photo
“We’re thinking of having a barbeque at the Airport Road Station with dessert to be served up at the Exit 73 Station,” Risdon said.
Sometime after that the public will be invited to an open house celebration and opportunity to acknowledge Life Support, their board of directors and President Cheri Marusa as well as the 2007 state legislators who voted for the capital budget that made this project a reality.
FD7 accomplished all this without going to local taxpayers.
“We didn’t ask to increased taxes or request to raise our levy lid to get this done,” said Chief Hobbs. FD7 commissioners are particularly proud of that fact.
Looking back, Risdon said these stations began as the glimmer of an idea around 2004.
“It’s been a constant push since then,” he added. “Sometimes it felt like this was one of those days that was never going to come – but here we are.”