Idaho Falls Fire Station No. 1 opens its doors
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IDAHO FALLS — Hundreds gathered Monday afternoon to see the newest fire station construct open its doors.
“It’s been a two and a half year project for me so it’s very exciting to actually be able to get into it now and start moving in and operating out of here,” Fire Chief Hanneman told EastIdahoNews.com.
Idaho Falls Fire Station No. 1 held a grand opening ceremony for its new building at 343 E Street on Monday. Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper, city council members, and Fire Chief Dave Hanneman made remarks during the event.
“The address, 343, has a significant meaning to us as it signifies the number of firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. We are here today to dedicate this station in their honor,” Hanneman said in a news release.
The former Station No. 1 was located inside the City Hall building on Constitution way. It housed the administration staff, and eight firefighters for the past 87 years, according to the release. Because of insufficient room and facilities as well as a large crack in the station floor that couldn’t sustain a ladder truck, a new building was necessary.
“Over the last couple decades the weight of the new apparatus that we have was too heavy on that 1930 floor. The floor literally was giving way,” Hanneman said.
The 24,000 square foot building cost $4.1 million. The previous city council authorized a tax increase before the building being constructed to in order to prevent debt from incurring.
“We set aside $400,000 a year to pay for this. It didn’t need to go out to bond or incur a debt. It’s going to be paid for by that ongoing tax assessment,” Hanneman said
For the first time in 35 years the Fire Prevention Bureau and ladder truck are inside the same location as the administrative staff. The new station hosts 11 living quarters for firefighters. There are currently eight firefighters stationed there now.
The station is now fully ADA compliant and has elevators. The administrative staff will occupy the first floor along with a training room that will serve as a City Coordination Center. The station has two sets of double bays and a Personal Protective Equipment turnout room. The PPE turnout room is as state-of-the-art area with a ventilation system allowing fumes exit the building, according to a release.
Upstairs is the living quarters for firefighters, captains and battalion chiefs. Firefighters are on shift 48 hours at a time, with up to 11 crew members, so the living quarters function similar to a house. There are dorm rooms, showers, a dining room, kitchen, day room, training room with computers, and an exercise room.
The new facility comes with an alert system with interconnectivity to dispatch.
“During an emergency, the alert system will progressively wake pertinent personnel by turning on lights, followed by sound and voice, thereby reducing their heart rates upon notification,” said Hanneman in a release.
When the alert system goes off, EMS crews have less than 1 minute to get out on the call from anywhere in the building. Fire calls are less than 1 minute 20 seconds. The central response area with monitors and radios is located near the pole leading down to the bays, giving crews up-to-date information before they get in the trucks and go on the call.
Monitors throughout the building also feed live call data to the firefighter in order to keep them informed of emergencies.
Hanneman said for all of the fire stations around town make a circle around Fire Station No. 1 which serves as a central hub. He said the having the new station means more efficiency and lower fire insurance for the city of Idaho Falls.
“It means better response times, it means that we’re more effective, and more efficient that way. We’re moving from a class 3 to a class ISO (Insurance Services Office) so we’re going to be able to drop everybody’s fire insurance which, is much more expensive than their taxes (for) the most part,” Hanneman said.
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