St. Louis Park will replace fire stations

The first signs of structural trouble at St. Louis Park's two fire stations were cracks in the garage floors.

But officials knew they had to move fast and begin repairs when city utility workers whose offices were in a fire station basement said the concrete ceiling moved as fire trucks drove into the garage above.

Now, three years after steel beams were added to temporarily reinforce the floors, the city is moving ahead with replacing and expanding both of its 1960s-era fire stations. According to Fire Chief Luke Stemmer, stalactites now hang from the basement ceilings, the result of corroding rebar and salty water that drips from vehicles through the cracked floors above.

Stemmer said the stations are not only physically decaying, they're not suited for duty in the 21st century.

"One has no women's bathroom, no separate sleeping area or locker room," he said. "The last thing people were thinking of in 1962 was that we would have women firefighters."

The stations also are cramped and lack separate areas for jobs like decontaminating equipment, he said.

"The role of fire services has changed greatly," Stemmer said. "We used to be sitting in the fire station waiting for a fire. Now our people are on the road all day long answering calls, doing educational classes. ... We're the first responders for everything."

Building new stations will cost an estimated $15 million, including $1 million for changes to a park that would be affected by the expansion of one of the stations. No architect has been chosen, and those numbers could change depending on station design.

Firefighters answer about 4,500 calls a year from Station 1 at 3750 Wooddale Av. and Station 2 at 2262 Louisiana Av. City firefighters -- 24 are career firefighters, 17 are paid on-call staff, and five are women -- respond to 911 calls, fires, hazardous chemical situations, trench collapses and other emergencies.

The city has five regular fire engines, one ladder truck capable of handling emergencies in high-rise buildings and numerous other small rescue trucks and vehicles.

One station was built in 1962, the other in 1967. Stemmer said the city considered replacing them with one big station. But land was hard to come by in the fully developed suburb. And Stemmer said officials wanted to keep the Fire Department's call response time down to its current level of four minutes.

When the city looked at optimal locations to build two stations, it turned out that the current sites are probably best, he said.

The city has already bought three houses on the south side of Station 1 to allow the station, which has a footprint of about 7,000 square feet, to be expanded to about 27,000 square feet. Fire Department administrative offices, which are now in City Hall, would be moved to that station. Station 2, which now has a footprint of 4,000 square feet, would extend into Northside Park to expand to about 15,000 square feet.

"Our goal is to build stations that would last 50 years," Stemmer said.

Building on existing sites means the city will have to do the sort of juggling act that Edina did when it replaced its primary fire station and department headquarters almost two years ago.

"We'll do one station at a time, store stuff in the city garage and perhaps work out of there," Stemmer said. "We're a 24/7 operation, so it won't be perfect, but I think we can make it work."

If the projects proceed as expected, construction on one replacement station would begin next summer or fall and the new building would open in 2011. Then the other station would be demolished and work would start on its replacement, which should be ready in 2012.

The city is beginning the search for a project construction manager. Stemmer said people from residential neighborhoods near each station will be involved in the design process.

Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380