For firefighters, a station becomes a second home, and as such, the fire station design should reflect a safe place to live and work. Your fire station should represent your goals and through its design, it should assist in executing those goals. Our team has the experience designing stations that emphasize operational efficiency, firefighter wellness, and community engagement through careful consideration of objectives.
Having a station that adequately matches your team's expertise, enhances your first responders' overall response time, and improves your department's ISO rating should be your top priority. Considerations must be made to ensure your station has well-placed components throughout to minimize response time for firefighters. Additionally, stations should also be able to have locations where firefighters can continually improve their skills. A core value for our team at Wold, we strive to provide spaces that support learning every day. This includes specialty rooms devoted to classroom training, safety training, skills work and space that can be used for community education classes such as CPR and first aid training.
The health and wellness of people at the fire scene is a top priority for your team. Though, one area that may be going unnoticed is the health and wellness of individuals at your station. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), firefighters face a nine percent increase in cancer diagnoses and a 14 percent increase in cancer-related deaths compared to the nation's general population. To mitigate these concerns, our team is committed to designing stations that reduce these health risks.
One way our team supports firefighter health is through the utilization of a zone strategy for contamination control. Design features help ensure that each zone remains isolated from the other. This can reduce the risk of exposure to contaminants after a fire event and minimize the transmission of contaminants into areas that firefighters spend significant amounts of time in at the station. Additionally, we believe it is essential to provide flexible options in a fire station that emphasizes overall well-being. This potentially means providing common areas, quiet rooms, and dedicated workout spaces. These spaces should have a distinct separation from apparatus bays where they would be exposed to harsh toxins. Thus, providing opportunities to develop healthy habits that reduce long-term health risks.
We understand that for many fire departments, community engagement is a core value for the department. Community involvement for your station could include the number of volunteers on staff or the number of gatherings your station hosts. Whatever the case, our designs encourage activity and connection within the station. While we previously mentioned the flexible spaces for community education classes, we also strive to provide areas for large gatherings. By meeting with stakeholders, we can understand community goals and create a space that matches those goals.
Going beyond the traditional fire station design model, our team works to identify challenges that can be approached with unique solutions. Whether that is the separation of living quarters from work quarters, emphasizing your firefighters' health, or features to bolster your community engagement, our team is committed to meeting your needs. Our process involves a thorough process of engaging with stakeholders, which is critical to understanding how we can create an adequate fire station design.
Our team wants to learn more about you! Please let us know how we can connect you with the right person.