Saco Fire Department applies for station construction grant

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A Newsletter by the City of Saco, Maine	October, 2009	Return to newsletter index

The Saco Fire Department has applied for a grant to build a new, 21,660-square-foot central fire station on North Street. The new location, on seven acres of city land near Young School, would replace the current Central Station, which is located downtown.

The estimated cost of the project is $6,344,994. Funding would come from a $210 million appropriation made by Congress to provide financial assistance directly to fire departments. These grants are made on a competitive basis to build new or modify existing fire stations in order for departments to enhance their response capability and protect the community they serve from fire and fire-related hazards. These grants will be administered by the Department of Homeland Security as part of the assistance to firefighter grant program.

Central Station
The 138-year-old Central Station is the only Saco Fire Department location manned by career firefighters 24/7/365. The apparatus and firefighters respond to all emergencies within our jurisdiction as well as automatic aid on structure fires to Biddeford, our twin city across the Saco River. The station houses both fire suppression and emergency medical transporting ambulances.

The current Central Station is on the same site that housed horse-drawn steamer apparatus dating back to 1871. When this station location was selected the response area was very different then it is today.

In 1837 our main response area was protecting a small dense downtown. The rest of the city was large farms and a small coastal fishing village too remote to provide with fire protection. Today most of those family farms have been sold and developed as housing. The small coastal fishing village has developed into densely clustered homes situated on the Atlantic Ocean Coastline. National Fire Protection Association statistics show 73% of today's structure fires occur in this type of homes and residences.

New station closer to center of city
The location and construction of a new Central Station dates back four chiefs to the early 1970s. Potential sites have been identified in three separate studies. When the new police station was built in 1996, the original concept for the building was a public safety complex for both police and fire services but the decision was made to not include the fire department due to limitations at the Storer Street site.

A more centrally relocated Central Station would meet two major goals of the federal grants. The primary focus of this fire station project would be community safety by improving response capabilities thereby enhancing public safety. The selected North Street location is more centrally located to improve response time to outlying areas of the City but is still close enough to the busy downtown district.

The new location would limit the department's exposure to downtown traffic which can be challenging during the busy summer season, often slowing our response.

With relocation, we would only encounter traffic issues when responding downtown. Calls to other city areas could be handled with better, less-congested travel routes. Since the current Central Station is less than one-half mile from the city limits, our four-minute travel response area extends well into our twin city, which easily covers the same area with their station placement.

Firefighter safety
The other major grant goal that would be met by a new station is firefighter safety. The new station would comply with NFPA 1500 and other standards that did not exist in 1938 when the current station was constructed. This station project would meet all four of the grants priorities: replace unsafe structures, expand fire protection, increase additional sleeping quarters for added full time staff, and replace habitable structures that are cramped and inefficient.

North Street site
All potential growth and development will occur in areas other than the historic downtown where we are located. The department has volunteer stations in the remote districts to provide fire protection, but often during the daytime no one is available to respond with the substation apparatus. Therefore, the first arriving apparatus must travel from the current downtown station.

The North Street site has been identified in three separate site analysis conducted by the city. In 1978 and 1994, site analysis was conducted by independent concerns. In 2006 the department conducted its own analysis using GIS, considering existing and future station coverage, response time, call volume by district, hazard classification, structures covered within a four minute travel time, access to major arteries, and mutual aid responses.

Traffic conditions were not considered in the 2006 study, which looked only at linear travel.

The project is also supported by the city's comprehensive plan, written in 1978, which states "Not only are they hampered by overcrowding and inadequate facilities, but also by downtown traffic congestion, particularly the fire department. These departments should be established in suitable facilities within close proximity to the downtown business and high density residential areas".

The relocation site meets both comprehensive plan requirements, by being close to the downtown and high density residential areas but better centrally located. After the site was identified in the 1994 study, the relocation site was purchased in 1998, specifically for a new central station. The 2006 study compared how relocation to the new site would affect response time in all districts specifically the busy downtown district.

Since 2006, the Saco Fire Department has entered into automatic fire response to structure fires with Biddeford Fire our twin cities. An immediate response to our downtown district from our twin cities' Central Station reinforces our decision to relocate.

As part of the grant application the site was surveyed, cleared for potential contamination, and test pits were bored. The site has been approved by the Saco planning board including preliminary building design. The department received required approval for the project from the Maine DEP and the Army Corp of Engineers. Preliminary plans and estimates were done and the site engineering was completed. The utilities were stubbed to the site before North Street was paved.