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Station ready for action By John Darling For the Daily Tidings Ashland's new $4 million fire station is almost done and should be occupied and online a week from today. "The firefighters love it and are anxious to move in and get started," said fire chief Keith Woodley, whose forces have occupied the city street department offices at B Street and Mountain Avenue during construction. John Gilbert of Adroit Construction looks over ceiling work Monday in the lobby of the new Ashland fire station. Ashland Daily Tidings/ DENISE BARATTA Built by Adroit Construction of Ashland, the brick structure features long-needed offices and classrooms, kitchen and dining room, modern communications room, a four-bay garage to house four fire trucks and four other vehicles, upstairs dorms and a pole for firefighters to slide down on their way to fires. "It's stainless steel, not brass" said Woodley of the pole. "It was cheaper that way." The crown jewel of the 15,000-square-foot fire station is the mini-museum of Ashland's firefighting history, housed in a glassy, two-story, slate-floored atrium with open-beam ceiling. On display is the town's first fire engine, a 1913 American La France vehicle. The machine, found in an old barn and restored by Ashland bed and breakfast owner Duane Smith, will be moved by firefighters early next week. A major artifact of Ashland history, the old red convertible fire engine was built in Elmira, N.Y., sent by rail to Portland and, in 1913, was driven here, where it served from until 1938. It was used by Talent after that. Surrounding it will be displays of old photos and firefighting gear, such as bugles and badges, assembled Southern Oregon Historical Society, Southern Oregon University and local historian Kay Atwood. The atrium, facing the junction of Main Street, Lithia Way and Siskiyou Boulevard, will be the focal point of tours by tourists and some 1,000 school children a year, Woodley said. Firefighters will answer calls in the temporary quarters until the moment of switch-over Tuesday. Then, all 911 calls will be received on a state-of-the-art communications system, featuring a "tapout controller" that automatically puts all systems into emergency mode, turning on dorm lights and even shutting down the kitchen's gas range, so it's not left on when firefights dash off to action. The new station is being paid for by voter-approved bonds. The rectangular building is wedged onto a small triangular lot. The prominent building replaces an antiquated, 50-year old station that had been converted from a gas station. The Blue Mountain Cafe, a popular latte lounge, had to be condemned and torn down to provide enough space for the station. The average lot for fire houses of this size is twice that, Woodley noted. Cost for everything, including land acquisition and $55,000 in new furniture, was almost $4 million, Woodley said. "This is the first new furniture we've ever had," he noted. "It's always been hand-me-downs until now." The project came in at $160 a square foot and stayed within budget by elimination of curved roofs on projecting side rooms and use of cement board instead of carved stone amid the bricks. The new station features a significant invention - an elevator rack that lifts wet hose up in the two-story hose tower, instead of requiring firefighters to climb up and pull the hose. The design of the new building had to pass a citizen review committee. Town firefighters and Woodley designed the inside, which was laid out by architects Peck, Smiley and Etlin of Portland. "The structure has a great design and is a real addition to the community," said Adroit supervisor John Gilbert. "You see a lot of buildings that are just buildings, but this one's not like that. It's unique." The only controversy, Woodley said, was a critical article in a local magazine calling it a "monstrosity" and panning the decision to acquire and demolish Blue Mountain. However, he said, because it sits on the city's main artery and offers access to all commercial response corridors, the present site was the best and only real choice. "I feel the town is getting good value for it (the loss of the cafe) and the firefighters are very grateful," he said. When firefighters clear out of their temporary quarters on B Street next week, the city street department will move into their own building, which was constructed at a cost of $100,000 just before the fire department took it over. Fire equipment was housed in an adjacent metal building and additional offices went in a portable, modular structure, which will now move to the SOU campus to house Education-Psychology staff and faculty during asbestos removal there. The new station No. 1 covers the town west of Mountain Avenue. The area east of Mountain is handled by Fire Station No. 2, located on Highway 66. An outmoded structure built in 1966, Fire Station No. 2 is scheduled for replacement in 2005, at a cost of $2.5 million. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -