Growing pains

Payette Fire Department Battalion Chief Willie Hollis (left) and Battalion Chief Russ Warden demonstrate how much room is available for firefighters to get fitted with new turnouts in the fire department’s cargo container, which holds 90 percent of the department’s equipment. Size and space limitations have prompted city officials to consider building a new, larger fire station elsewhere in town.

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Payette Fire Chief Jeff Sands said this development is the latest in the process he has been working on for the past three years and is not something decided in haste.

“We’ve just simply outgrown this building,” Sands said. “We have for years, and as the city continues to grow and the need for services, we’ve just outgrown the facility.”

Conceptual drawings and some preliminary work at a proposed site — near the corner of U.S. Highway 95 and Seventh Avenue North — for a new fire station has already been completed. The findings from the preliminary work’s have been turned over to the Payette City Council, Sands said, and now the matter rests on council members’ votes.

Expansion of the city is moving in that direction, Sands said, and the Seventh Avenue site will allow the department to maintain its No. 4 rating issued by the Idaho Survey and Ratings Bureau.

“It gives us a north, south, east, west artery to run response from,” Sands said of the proposed site.

An additional benefit is the city already owns the property, which means funds will not have to be spent on land acquisition. Sands also said the city has considered the fact the site currently holds a recreational vehicle sewer dump site and park area, which is used frequently and very popular. He said the city has no plans to get rid of the sewer dump site, and the fire department will incorporate it into its plans for a new fire station.

The current fire department facility was built in 1947, Sands said, and since then modifications and additions have been made. Now, however, the fire department has run out of room for any more additions.

“What they have right now is a shoebox,” Payette City Coordinator Mary Cordova said, adding Sands and his staff have done a great job working with what they have. She said the current building, however, which she estimates to be less than 5,000 square feet, does not suffice.

The current location of the fire department doesn’t have adequate parking for Sands, his full-time staff and 28 volunteers. It also doesn’t have any shower or training facilities.

The building cannot hold all of the department’s fire trucks — five pumpers, two brush trucks, two support vehicles and one education van. Currently one fire truck sits outside the station next to the police department, exposed to the weather, and another sits in a garage at City Hall in a slot that would otherwise be used by Payette police. The fire education van also sits parked behind the fire station. Sands also said 90 percent of the fire department’s equipment, from fire hoses to turnouts, sits in a steel cargo container attached to the building that was loaned to the fire department by the city. The small container is about filled to capacity and also exposes all the contents to extreme temperatures depending on the season, affecting the durability and lifespan of the equipment.

“We have a great container,” Sands said. “We’ve just simply outgrown it.”

Truck and personnel safety is also an issue as there is not much clearance for staff to prepare for a call or to move out the trucks.

“We actually can’t load a truck without diverting a lane of traffic,” Sands said, adding carbon monoxide levels inside the station when the trucks are running are “absolutely unacceptable.”

Sands said a new station would provide training facilities for his staff, expand the capacity of services the department can provide and allow for easier maneuvering by his staff and fire trucks in the station.

“And right now, we’re there,” Sands said. “We don’t have any expandability from where we’re at right now.”

Sands said bigger facilities in town, such as the Seneca buildings and the new McCain Middle School, require larger equipment for fire suppression. Trucks and equipment are bigger and take up more space than they did 30 years ago, he said. In recent years, Sands said, when the department has acquired new trucks, they have been tailored in size to fit the space limitations of the station rather than to fit the department’s needs.

“So you get into a delicate situation there,” he said. The conceptual drawings are for a 12,000 square foot station, which would address all the fire department’s problems. The new station is designed to allow expansion in any direction for 30 years. It also furnishes the necessary parking for the staff and fire trucks and provides the needed space for equipment. The new station would provide a room specifically for plan review, which the current building doesn’t have, office space, showers, training facilities and a conference room, which can be used by different community organizations.

“We want to be very much part of the community,” Sands said.

As an incentive for current staff and a draw to potential volunteers, the fire department plans include an exercise facility where members can work out and exercise.

“I think it would be a big benefit to the firemen and to the workforce as a whole to have it healthier,” Sands said. Even with all the accommodations, Cordova said the conceptual plans do not include many “bells and whistles.”

“It’s not fancy by any means,” Sands agreed. “But it’s very nice, and it will meet the needs of the future community.”

Cordova said the conceptual drawings and floor plans are at City Hall, and she encourages people to come and look at them and ask questions.