Station Update

August 2008
The new Fire Station No. 1 is open for business! Edina’s Mayor, City Council members, Fire Department personnel, other City staff and elected officials were on hand with members of the public for the July 31 ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of the newly constructed Fire Station No. 1.

Edina Fire Chief Marty Scheerer kicked off the ribbon cutting ceremony by introducing elected officials, City Manager Gordon Hughes, Mayor Jim Hovland and other distinguished guests. Hovland spoke praises of the new station before boarding a fire truck with Council Member Ann Swenson’s 4-year-old grandson, Jack, and driving through the red ribbon tied across the doors of the new Fire Station’s apparatus bay – officially declaring its opening.

Those present were invited inside to enjoy cake and refreshments, as well as receive informal tours of the nearly completed station. In addition to making up for many of the shortcomings in the old station, this new fire station will give Edina the opportunity to grow and expand the Fire Department in the future. It will serve as a great benefit to the community and help ensure that Edina’s Fire Department is able to provide unmatched service and one of the quickest response times in the metro area.

The month of August was spent finishing the move into the new Station. Contractors are still making finishing touches to the interior of the building, but the Fire Department has been able to maintain their normal routine while working around them. All Chief Officers, Administration and Fire Prevention Bureau staff have moved into their new offices. Shifts began working out of the station early in the month. The public is invited to tour the new facility during the Fire Department’s Annual Open House held the afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 12.

Building the new fire station has been a long and sometimes challenging process, but the City and Fire Department are happy to have it nearly complete and look forward to using it to serve the community for years to come.

July 2008
The Edina Fire Department (EFD) began moving into the new fire Station No. 1 on June 30, 2008. It is a fantastic building that will meet the Department’s needs as well as the community’s well into the future.

July was spent moving furniture and equipment into the building and beginning to get things operational. Only select staff members have moved into their new offices, as the contractor’s are finishing up the interior, but most staff should be moved-in by Aug. 1.

A ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of the station is set to take place on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 5 p.m.

The new station is a much needed addition to the community. The old fire station was built in 1969 and was designed to house four to five male firefighters and three other administrative staff -- it had no accommodations for female firefighters. It was also only able to hold three to four large firefighting vehicles and did not have the proper capacity to function as a paramedic ambulance service, which was not in existence in 1969. 

In 1975, the Fire Department began its paramedic ambulance service. The volume of emergency calls over the years made hiring additional firefighter/paramedics a necessity. The Fire Department itself also grew in function. Beyond fighting fires, EFD now responds to all rescue calls, hazmat incidents, emergency medical calls, ice rescues, water rescues, trench rescues, high angle rescues and many other emergencies. Today, additional firefighter/inspectors are also needed to inspect all new and existing commercial construction. Actual fires now represent less than five percent of emergency calls.

Additions and renovations to the old station were frequent during the last 35+ years in an attempt to transform the building into a usable work environment. Shortcomings including several OSHA, Building Code, Fire Code, ADA and HIPPA violations made the building difficult to operate from. In addition to design constraints, the building was also plagued with mold problems.

Studies looking into remodeling the building resulted in very expensive and unsatisfactory results. The second option was to leave the existing garage space and rebuild the main part of the station. Again, this was an expensive option that did not meet all current and future needs. Finally, it was determined that the cost of building a completely new building would only add an additional 15 percent to the cost of remodeling -- and was far more desirable in meeting current and future requirements.

The new building has several things the old fire station did not have, including:

• Women’s locker room
• Individual sleeping quarters
• Fitness room
• Training room
• Meeting/conference rooms
• Adequate office space
• Secure narcotics storage space
• Secure medical records storage space
• Adequate general storage space
• Room for 12 large vehicles
• Medical clean room
• Medical supply storage room
• Adequate locker room space for male firefighters
• White roof to reduce cooling costs
• Clean water system for water run-off
• High efficiency heating and cooling systems
• Automatic back-up electrical generator that will also be used for Energy Savings Program with Xcel
• Fire sprinkler system
• Fire alarm system
• SCBA Room
• Fire Prevention plan review area

These improvements, along with almost double the square footage of the old station, will allow for continued efficient operation of the Fire Department and accommodate any future growth.

EFD will also be holding its annual Open House on Sunday, October 12, from 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. at the new Fire Station No. 1.  Hope to see you there!

June 2008
The progress at Fire Station No. 1 has been very encouraging since April. The weather has been cooperative and the building is nearing completion. As of the first week in June, the exterior is 99 percent complete. The interior is being painted, ceilings and lights are being installed, electrical work is being completed, tile is nearly complete and the building is completely weather tight.

The project continues to remain on budget and the contractor is scheduled to finish construction by the end of June. Landscaping work will continue through July. A delay in shipping furniture has occurred because the supplier of laminate materials no longer ships orders until they have a full truck due to high fuel costs. Furniture should now be shipped in early July.

Fire Department personnel still plan on moving into Fire Station No. 1, even without all of the furniture. It is estimated to take about two weeks to be moved in and fully operational. Temporary facilities will continue to be staffed until the Department is able to operate out of the new fire station.

The building is going to be a magnificent addition to the City and will significantly improve the Fire Department in numerous ways for many years. The support of the community throughout this project has been much appreciated.

April 2008
The Fire Station No. 1 construction project is moving along. The windows are being installed and the white roof is complete. The main building will be weather-tight very soon. The tall wall in the front of the building will be clad with copper before long.

There have been some weather-related delays such as high winds when the roof planks were scheduled to be installed, snow when the white roof was scheduled to be installed and, of course, all the mud around the building from the ground frost thawing. There were also some drawing errors by the architect and soil corrections that created some delays in construction.

The next big step in the project is to have the concrete apparatus floor poured and finished. The apparatus floor has an abundance of plumbing, electrical conduits and an in-floor heating system. The in-floor heat system warms the concrete floor which has a large thermal mass and retains the heat as vehicles move in and out of the fire station. The radiant heat from the floor heats the vehicles, not the air, and is the most energy efficient type of heating system.

The building is really starting to look like a fire station and the project remains on budget.  The Fire Station will be an outstanding addition to the community when it is complete, which is now scheduled for June 2008.

February 2008
Construction is moving along well at the Fire Station site. There were some difficult days in January when the temperatures were well below zero. There was also a three-day delay in installing the roof planks on the second level with the crane due to high wind conditions. 

The concrete plank roof is now installed on all areas except the second level stairways. The stairways should be completed the second week of the month. Having the building covered will help with the construction pace. The actual “white roof” should be installed by the end of February if all goes well. The “white roof” is an energy-saving composite material that reflects the heat off the roof and reduces the energy needed to keep the building cool in the summertime. There are also several skylights that will provide natural light to much of the building, thus reducing our electrical energy demand for lighting.

The north end of the building has nearly all of the exterior brick installed and they will be removing the plastic and scaffolding the first week of the month. 

The project remains on schedule and on budget.

December 2007
Construction is moving along at Fire Station No. 1. The roof was installed on the apparatus area on Dec. 20. The roof should be installed on the second level of the main building in mid-January. Although covered with plastic to keep warm and not visible from the exterior, the brick is being installed on the outside of the building. Fortunately, most of the interior walls are finished block; therefore, there will be much less finish work on the interior than most buildings. The Department is still anticipating a May 2008 completion date. The project remains within budget.

September 2007
The following was submitted as an editorial in the Edina Sun-Current:
For over 45 years, the Edina community has supported the Edina Fire Department. With the construction of the new fire station at 6250 Tracy Ave. under way, it is important, and only proper, that we keep residents informed of its progress and reassure everyone that even during construction we are well-positioned throughout the City.

Temporarily deployed in four locations throughout Edina, emergency run times have remained consistent prior to and throughout the construction process. With firefighters stationed at Fire Station No. 2, 7335 York Ave.; a construction trailer at Edina’s Public Works Building, 5146 Eden Ave.; a warehouse at 6801 Washington Ave.; and the South Metro Public Safety Training Facility, 7525 Braemar Blvd.; run times the past six months have averaged four minutes, thirty seconds.

The Edina Fire Department began the project of rebuilding Fire Station No. 1 on May 1. The first two weeks of May were spent clearing out the asbestos that was used as installation during the construction of the old station in 1969. The project was then handed over to the contractor and old Fire Station No. 1 was torn down.

Through May and June, the project moved along smoothly until it was discovered that the soil below the old station contained large amounts of clay and needed to be corrected before further digging could continue. The clay was removed and replaced with sand, which will eventually improve the water-proofing of the building and ensure proper water drainage outside the walls.

With the soil contents corrected and the basement drains in place, the contractors were set to pour the concrete floor when the first rain of the summer started coming down. Forced to wait out the storm, construction workers then had to dig out the wet soil in the basement and replace it with dry soil.

Rain continued to plague construction, as workers attempted to place footings around the building. Complicating the work further was the fact that the lot size is too small to work on both the main building footings and apparatus footings at the same time. Construction workers were required to dig footings for the main building and place those before working on the footings for the apparatus floor.

There was also a communication error by one of the sub-contractors with a supplier. They failed to order the correct block color for the new building and there was a delay in receiving the correct block.

Construction crews are now focusing on establishing the block walls of the main building of the new Fire Station. The contractor has doubled up construction crews to make up for time lost due to rain and other minor hiccups.

As with any construction project, we have experienced delays in the building process, but the Fire Department is staying positive.

The City has given the contractor one year from the start date of the project to complete the new station. Though the contractor originally asserted that the station will only take nine months to complete, the City is confident that the project will be done within the one-year time frame. There is a significant financial penalty assessed to the contractor if the station is not complete by May 12, 2008.

On behalf of all the men and women of the Edina Fire Department, thank you for your ongoing support.

August 2007
The basement has been capped with the concrete planking. The contractors are now back-filling around the basement and then they will begin working on installing the footings for the remainder of the building once all the soil has been back-filled. The footings had to be completed in two stages due to the small site and no location for all of the soil that needed to be moved to put in the footings.

July 2007
The project has been delayed for a week, following recent rainfalls. At the time the rain fell, the basement soils and drains were ready for the concrete floor to be poured. The water created poor soil conditions and the contractor had to remove the wet soil and floor drains and replace them once the ground was dry. The plan is now to pour concrete on Monday July 23. The basement roof will follow shortly thereafter.

June 2007: The large cottonwood tree located at 6250 Tracy Ave. recently was taken down. The City Forrester evaluated the tree and determined that, due to rot and decay, the tree was no longer healthy and posed potential danger to pedestrians and cars.

May 2007: The Edina Fire Department has moved out of Fire Station No. 1, 6250 Tracy Ave.

Six firefighter/paramedics are working out of Fire Station No. 2, 7330 York Ave. The other two members of the shift are located in a construction trailer parked under the parking garage at Public Works, 5146 Eden Avenue.

Fire Department Administration and Fire Prevention have moved to the Southwest corner of the City. The Fire Prevention Team is working out of the South Metro Training Facility, 7525 Braemar Blvd. The four share office space in the back left corner of the building. Other administrative personnel are working out of a warehouse located across Hwy. 169 at 6801 Washington Ave.

The building at 6250 Tracy has undergone asbestos removal.

The building at 6250 Tracy has been demolished.