Sweet Sparkman Architecture & Interiors faced several challenges when it got the job to build Longboat Key (FL) Fire Rescue Station 92, located on a barrier island between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The challenges include building a structure able to withstand Category 4 hurricane-force winds, raising the level of the site nearly a dozen feet to meet flood plain requirements, and building health and safety features into the station to prevent particulate contamination from entering the living areas.
Paul Dezzi, Longboat Key’s chief, says the barrier island is 11 miles long and the department has fire stations at each end, with a 75-foot aerial quint and an Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance in each. The department also runs a 32-foot marine rescue boat, and a high-water vehicle for flooding rescues. “The old station was built in 1982 and was very antiquated,” Dezzi says. “Besides being below flood elevation and not being able to withstand hurricane-force winds, it was not ADA (American Disabilities Act) compliant, and didn’t address gender issues because it had group bunks and showers.”
Todd Sweet, partner in Sweet Sparkman, points out, “We had to bring in a tremendous amount of fill to get the elevation of the site above flood elevation, and still maintain the necessary slope to make the site accessible for the apparatus. The entire site was under one acre, and we had to surround it with a 10-foot retaining wall. And because the site was tight, we had to situate the building on a diagonal on the site in order to get all the interior elements, and still allow enough room for the apparatus to drive around the site.”
Sweet notes Sweet Sparkman had to demolish the old station and set up a temporary trailer to house the four firefighter/paramedic crew on a nearby parcel of property loaned by its owner. “The station is designed to withstand winds of up to 166 miles per hour (mph),” he points out, “and also features a dedicated weather-tracking apparatus to ensure the station’s personnel are the first to know of updates to storm trajectories and duration.”
Dezzi says that another challenge facing Sweet Sparkman was to incorporate the health of area residents and firefighters themselves into the design. Near the station’s front entrance on the South end, a public medical facility provides the island’s residents with basic walk-in medical care, meaning they don’t have to drive to the mainland for more minor injuries.
The new station has three drive-through apparatus bays, Dezzi says, and off the bays are a decon room where firefighters can shed contaminated turnout gear, place it in an extractor, shed contaminated uniforms and place them in a commercial washer, and then move into a shower area. “The decon area is a red zone, while the shower area is yellow,” he says. “After leaving the first shower area, firefighters move into a green area where they get a second shower and can don a new set of uniforms before moving off into the living area of the station.”
Sweet says Longboat Key Station 92 has five individual bunk rooms, and two unisex rest rooms with showers for firefighters, as well as a bunk room, office and rest room/shower facility for a lieutenant. The station has a kitchen/dining room/day room and also a large, glass-walled exercise facility in the center of the station.
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Ariz.-based journalist, the author of three novels and five non-fiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment editorial advisory board. He served 22 years with Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including the position of chief.
