A VIRTUAL WALK THROUGH THE VICTORIA FIRE STATION
GETTING QUOTES FOR INTERIOR DECORATING
In choosing color, carpet, and paint for interior walls and floors of the new Victoria Fire Station, Victoria council-lmembers and staff tended toward "bolder and darker" colors, shades, and tones that would still be pleasing in com-ing years.
Victoria Fire Chief Tim Walsh also presented floor plans of the Fire Station for council review and comment on July 14^th.  Its construction and remodel is part of the large Water Treatment Facility project underway on Highway 5 expected to be completed some time in 2006.
Said Chief Walsh, "We don't want anything fancy, but workable, useable, and for the future."
Footprint of the new two-story construction measures approximately 100 feet by 100 feet.  Footprint of the exist-ing fire station space is about 90 feet by 90 feet, which means a large and looming structure occupying approximately 20,000 square feet of city property, not in-cluding the large parking spaces front and back.
Chief Walsh spoke of a staging room that will be used by families and kids, standby crews, and medics from the Ridgeview Medical Center.  "The Ridgeview medics use our Fire Station quite a bit to do their bookwork," he said.
The training room can also be used for general meet-ings of the Victoria firefighters as well as large meetings of area fire departments and also the county's fire chiefs throughout the year.
The conference room, which is located on the Water Treatment side of the building, can be used for small fire department meetings as well as city staff meetings.
The kitchen, which is about half the size of the kitchen at the Hall on Rose Street, will provide for firefighters who come directly to the station after work, as well as food prep-aration for various meetings and multiple functions of the Fire Department.
The training storage room will house tables, chairs, and other materials, basically as a large closet space.
The training office will be used by the training coordin-ator and secure audio visual equipment, reference material.
The engineer storage room, which is "downstairs," provides a work bench and work area, as well as tool storage for minor repairs, cabinet storage for flammables, and storage for hoses, nozzles, and miscellaneous equip-ment.
Another storage room will house equipment from the Fire Department's annual fishing contest, turnout gear, boxes of records, and pallet racking.
The SCBA room, which stands for Self Contained Breathing Apparatus, will include large sinks for cleaning the SCBA's, a compressor and fill station, and a mechanical area with all the electrical panels and hot water heater,
The current kitchen will be remodeled into a utility room for a washer and dryer (for uniforms and cleaning rags), cleaning supplies, coolers, pop machine, storage of water, Gatorade, and pop.
An archival storage room will hold "the things that get archived," relief association records, investment records, personnel record, fire call reports, inspection reports.
A large office area can be fitted for four work stations to be used by the secretary of the Fire Department, secretary of the Relief Association, treasurer of the Relief Associ-ation, chief engineer, truck starters, SCBA maintenance personnel, and various captains.  Much work in this area is computer/software driven.
The chief officer office will contain two work stations, one for the Fire Chief and another for the Assistant Fire Chief.
The dispatch area will be used for radio communica-tions, computer documentation of calls, future full time administrative staff, and possibly office space for the town cop.
The restrooms must accommodate a potential 50 users, considering there could easily be 36 people in training at the same time as 25 people using the conference room.  This means, according to Building Official Tom Gray, that two stools are required for men and two for women.
Finally, security doors must ensure secure and separate access to both the Water Treatment Plant and the Fire Sta-tion.
In conclusion, said Chief Walsh, "This provides great space for several years to come, including a full time admin-istrator down the road.  Right now we can barely keep up with all the paperwork. Also with the future in mind, Councilmember Mary Thun said, "I think we should price out a sound system for the training room."
City Administrator Steve Sarvi said the next step is to get estimates and quotes on the interior "decorating" from reliable contractors and then compile that information into a bid package that can "go out and hit the streets" for closed and sealed bids.
The "new" Fire Station in conjunction with the "old" Fire Station will accommodate about a dozen or more trucks, according to Administrator Sarvi, depending on the size and type of vehicle.  If the Victoria Fire Department acquires a ladder truck, it might take the space of two trucks, for example.


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