When fire engines pull out of Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue King City Station 35 later next year, they will be exiting a brand-new, state-of-the art fire station.
The King City Planning Commission learned about the project at its Feb. 12 meeting during a presentation by TVF&R’s Capital Projects Manager Chad Liggett and Director of Logistics Heidi Hicks along with architects Aidan Katz and Erica Jankowski with Soderstrom Architects.
The new station will be two stories high to allow for more staff and apparatus to serve a growing population. The slightly larger new station will top out at 38 feet high in the center with a sloping roof toward the sides with solar panels.
The new station will be built over the footprint of the old 1970s station. The Oregon Department of Transportation no longer allows new fire station signals on its highways so the driveway alignment with the current signal dictates the location.
The first floor will hold all the apparatus and have bi-fold doors instead of the old roll-up style. “They open quicker, are less susceptible to damage and more cost-effective in the long run,” Jankowski said.
“The building is designed for any apparatus needed in the future. Also, the trend is getting away from common sleeping areas to individual sleeping and dressing areas not defined by gender, so there will be individual private rooms.”
Hicks added, “There is a high focus on health, safety and recovery, and there will be a cleaner environment for firefighters. They will store their turnouts on the first floor, and when they enter the living area, they will be in clean clothes.”
The new facility will have lots of windows in the gym in the front part of the second floor, and the second floor also will have an outdoor patio with a grill.
Jankowski said that while the new station might not be fully occupied when it opens, there will be room to expand the staff in the future.
The new station will have a generator and propane tank for back-up power in the event of a power outage, and Jankowski noted, “That station will be fully operational following a natural disaster.”
The first step in the construction process was setting up temporary on-site housing for the crews and equipment while the old station is demolished and a new one built. The project is expected to take 14 to 18 months to be completed. Site preparations for the temporary facility began in mid-March, with demolition of the old station underway in June.
“Part of the reason we’re doing this (new construction) is because retrofitting is never as good as a new build,” Jankowski said.
King City City Attorney Peter Watts noted, “Fire insurance rates are based on fire response, and this new station with more apparatus and more personnel could shorten response times, which could lower fire insurance rates.”
Once the new station is built, a storm-water control pond will be built where the temporary facility was sited. A cell tower on the site will remain along with a smaller AT&T facility, and access to the rear of the property will be blocked by a gate.
The project, which is being managed by a team, is expected to cost approximately $12.28 million, paid for by Measure 34-308, which voters approved in November 2021. It allows TVF&R to issue $122 million in proposed general obligation bonds for emergency services, according to TVF&R Public Affairs Officer Corrine Haning.
