New fire station opens in Fairview North Park
Building pleases firefighters, but main benefit should be to response times
Lt. Fred Ehrett raises the American flag over the new Brookfield Fire Department Station No. 2 in Fairview North Park, on Calhoun Road north of Capitol Drive, on Oct. 28. Photo By C.T. Kruger
Oct. 30, 2009 | 0 comments
Rick Weber seemed pretty happy with his new digs last week.
Weber, a Brookfield Fire Department equipment operator, looked around the spacious kitchen of the new Fire Station No. 2 as moving crews hauled office equipment, appliances and firefighting gear into the recently completed building on Calhoun Road.
"The station is really nice compared to the last 23 years I've been here," Weber said. "It was well worth the wait."
Firefighters in Brookfield's Fire Station No. 3 will be getting their own roomier accommodations soon as well. The city is nearing the end of a years-long process to move the two stations farther west to improve response times to businesses and residents on Brookfield's west side.
Station No. 2, located in Fairview North Park north of Capitol Drive, is up and running after last week's move, and construction is wrapping up on the new Station No. 3 at Calhoun and Greenfield Avenue.
Firefighters will move into the south-side station the first week in December.
Stations aligned along Calhoun
Discussions about the possibility of building two new fire stations started in 2001, when the city was considering whether to remodel or rebuild Stations No. 2 and 3, which opened in 1966 and 1978, said Dean Marquardt, the city's director of administration.
Mayor Jeff Speaker assembled a task force to study the issue, and, in 2006, it recommended building new, larger stations along Calhoun Road to align with Station No. 1, which sits just north of City Hall.
The Common Council in 2007 approved the recommendation, 10-4.
The new stations are about 12,000 square feet each, twice the size of the old stations. That extra space includes several features - decontamination areas, training rooms, separate sleeping quarters and enough space to service vehicles inside the building - that the former stations didn't have.
Plus, the former stations were built with three-person crews in mind, not the five-person staffs Brookfield uses today.
"It's built for today, and it's built for the future," Fire Chief Charlie Myers said while giving a tour of Station No. 2 last week.
But while the extra space is nice, Myers said, it's important to remember the new stations "were built to equalize our response times."
Park work part of project
Station No. 2 offers another perk - it sits inside Fairview North Park, an 8-acre facility that boasts a baseball diamond, soccer field, basketball court and other amenities.
Myers said putting the new station inside the park will provide firefighters with an opportunity to meet and talk with neighborhood residents.
Some neighbors expressed concerns about losing the park space, but the city in December approved a lease with the Elmbrook School District on a 12-acre property near Imperial Drive that eventually could be converted into a neighborhood park.
Lt. Fred Ehrett, who has been with the department for 24 years, said he likes the proximity of the station to his house - it's about a five-minute walk - and its location inside Fairview North.
"I like the park setting," he said.
And like the other firefighters, he is eager to start enjoying the benefits of the new station.
"It's about time," Ehrett said. "Station 2 was getting old."
BY THE NUMBERS
5
Fire Department personnel on duty per 24-hour shift at each station
12,000
Approximate square footage of the two new fire stations, about twice the size of the old stations
$2.3 million
Approximate cost of each the two new fire stations; the city also spent about $500,000 for regrading and drainage improvements at Fairview North Park and $900,000 for property acquisition at Station No. 3
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