Fire Station to benefit university
The newly built, “no frills, no extra cost,” Hillcrest Fire Station on 1250 E. 1100 North will mean a quicker response to emergency calls for the university community, said Logan Fire Department Assistant Chief Jeff Peterson.
Mark Meaker, chief of the Logan Fire Department, said the station’s services covers one-third of Logan City, east of 600 East and north of 1400 North, but will also be used as backup for other areas that need help. Before the new station was built, all emergency responses relied on the downtown station.
“Every indicator showed that we needed a fire station in this part of the city,” Peterson said.
Sen. Bob Bennett said the fire station is a symbol of the “growth and vitality of the community.”
Logan City did not hire any new firefighters. The crew and equipment from the downtown station was split, Peterson said. There will be an increase in utilities, but cost to taxpayers is minimal.
The $925,000 station was entirely paid for with a federal grant provided by the Housing and Urban Development Program, he said.
The project began in 1997, he said. Efforts were made to get state and federal representatives to appropriate money into the federal budget, Peterson said.
“It’s about time,” Logan City Chairwoman Tami Pyfer said, “the city and county has joined together and combine resources, to provide improved ambulance services.”
“Three years ago, my father, who lives two blocks down from here, had a heart attack and it took about 10 minutes for the ambulance to come,” Mayor Doug Thompson said during the fire station’s grand opening and dedication Saturday morning.
“If that response would have been two minutes or three, who knows how many more years I would have been able to enjoy with my father,” Thompson said.
Meaker, said the station was built because emergency responses could not reach the university community in a reasonable time to fight fire and save lives.
“We need to be on the scene in five minutes or less, or people will die in either fires or due to medical emergencies,” Meaker said.
Most fires slowly build the first couple minutes but within seven to eight minutes, “you’ll have the entire building involved in the fire,” he said.
Peterson said response times, call volumes and property values were considered before decisions were made to build the fire station.
Because of the new station, response times in reaching areas have been divided in half from eight minutes to less than five, he said.
USU President Kermit L. Hall spoke and said the, “Firehouse is the testament to the fact that people with honest ambitions can make good decisions and produce good results benefiting not only the university, but the community as a whole.”
The one-level, 6,000 square foot fire station, located at 1250 E. 1100 North, is built on land provided by USU. The station has a 40-year renewable lease costing taxpayers $1 and was constructed by Landmark Companies and drawn by Architectural Design West.
The fire station houses six apparatuses, a fire engine, a rescue ambulance, a brush truck (for grass fires), a technical rescue squad (with rescue extrication gear such as the “Jaws of Life”) and a reserve engine and ambulance.
Instead of shared sleeping quarters, the fire station has six private quarters for each shift. The firefighters on duty will each have their own room with a bed, desk and closet space.
The station is equipped with a triple-redundant fire alert system, an exercise room, kitchen, day room and dining room/training room. The facility accommodates for both male and female fire fighters.
“I like the station’s location, it is well placed to serve the community,” Wes Lataen, a resident from Cache Valley attending the dedication, said.
“We’ll try not to blow the siren too much on 1200 East. There will be a procedure and protocol put on that. We believe we will be good neighbors,” Meaker said in response to the community concerned with noisy sirens.
-doantn@cc.usu.edu