
Renovations at Madison’s Fire Station 1, on West Dayton Street, are on schedule to be completed by the end of November.
Assistant Chief Clay Christenson said the remodeling, which began at the end of March, has so far gone as scheduled and will likely end up costing between $8-million and $9-million total.
The renovations include the complete replacement of the fire station’s more than 50 year old electrical system, Christenson said.
Christenson said the new electrical system will be wired into an electric generator buried below ground behind the station’s engine bays.
He said the generator should ensure the whole station stays up and running in the event of a power outage.
“Say if a tornado comes in and wipes out something, we’ve got our own generator here so we can power up, run our computers, run our stuff,” Christenson said.
The new Fire Station 1 will also feature a built and ready-to-use command post.
Christenson said that when Madison Police and the Madison Fire Department team up to manage large crowds, such as on Halloween, they often set up a makeshift command post in a city conference room. He said such a command post, which includes computers and TV enabling authorities to view live cameras around the city, must be set up and disassembled with each use.
Christenson said police and firefighters set up their command post ahead of time for pre-planned events. But he said the assembly can cost them valuable time when responding to unexpected events – such as as a large, spontaneous protest or a weather disaster.
Other new features being added to the fire station include more storage space and more space to house emergency response vehicles.
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