By Lela Garlington
The Commercial Appeal
GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — Sitting in the driver’s seat of a backhoe, Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy pushed a joy stick and took the first of three swings to demolish the porch columns of the old fire station on Forest Hill-Irene Road near Poplar.
No longer will firefighters have to contend with termites eating the paper off the Sheetrock, watch the roof leak like a sieve or deal with the mold and mildew growing in a building that started out as a garage. Finally, no more sharing a space in an open dormitory/training room with Murphy beds.
City officials and firefighters celebrated Wednesday afternoon during the official groundbreaking with some building bashing for the new Germantown Fire Station No. 4.
“Finally, it’s going to happen,” Fire Chief Dennis Wolf said. “We’ve been talking about this project for years.”
Among the city’s guests was former Forest Hill Volunteer Fire Department Chief Joe Rape, 85. “Time and tide waits for no man. It’s progress. You can’t stop it,” he said.
The building was originally a four-bay garage in 1967. The county took over in 1972 and converted it into a fire station/training facility. Germantown took over in 1991.
For Goldsworthy, a new building means firefighters will be safer when an earthquake hits.
The $3 million project is designed with energy saving and earthquake resistant features. The city hopes to earn a silver rating as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The wrecking crew expects to finish what the mayor started in a few days. It’ll take another week to sort through the rubble for any materials like aluminum and glass that can be recycled.
If successful, it would be the first certified “green” public building in Germantown. Architect Michael Terry commended the city “for setting the example” in being LEED-certified.
Renaissance Group of Lakeland designed the building and will oversee construction at 3031 Forest Hill-Irene Road near Poplar. Belz Architect and Construction of Memphis won the bid.
In March, fire crews moved out and into a nearby single-wide, formaldehyde-free FEMA trailer. Crews are calling it “the cabin” until the new station is finished, which is expected to be within 12 months.
The 14,500-square-foot, two-story building will have three drive-through bays, sleeping quarters for eight, a day room, dining/kitchen area, a police office and a backup 911 dispatch center along with a backup computer server room. It will have colored concrete floors and, for the first time, a city fire station will have a pole for firefighters to slide down from their sleeping quarters. It also has a training classroom and community room.
While it costs more to build, a LEED building is more energy efficient. For example, each sleeping quarter will have its own thermostat, and the bays will have radiant floor heat in the concrete.
Copyright 2010 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.