By David Taylor / Managing Editor
The Crosby Volunteer Fire Department desperately needed more space as they continue to keep up with the growth in the department and the community. On Friday, they dedicated the newest tool in their arsenal with a new maintenance building located at 123 South Diamondhead Blvd. behind Station 82 to help service and store much of their equipment.
“Today is the end of a fairly long journey that we’ve taken in getting this building done,” said Assistant Fire Chief Russell White.
When the new Station One was opened in 2011, the old station became the fall back for a maintenance facility.
“When that building was originally built, it wasn’t tasked for the bigger trucks that we use today,” White said, “and it served its purpose.”
There was a need for something else.
“In 1984, when I joined the department, we had six moving pieces of equipment. Today, we have 26 support apparatus and 19 other support or suppression apparatus for a total of 45 moving units that we have to do regular maintenance on,” White said.
“This facility was designed to meet the growing neds of our fleet and the community’s needs.”
The project was a total of $4.1 million and was completed on budget without any overruns. They already owned the land which saved taxpayers additional costs.
Before the ESD was ready to spend taxpayer dollars, Board member Randy Foster said they go through a process.
“When Russell came to us, we kind of already knew the need but with a lot of the capital projects we go through, we want a written justification. It spells out what they want, what the outcome will be. We look it over and sometimes there’s tweaks and if it’s something we believe is viable, we will approve it,” he said.
Foster said he’s a taxpayer too and wants to make sure that every penny spent is stretched to satisfy the public.
“We want to get the biggest bang out of every buck,” he said.
Two of the board members also served on the building committee so they stayed abreast of the progress and decisions being made.
Foster said this was an easy decision.
“The trucks being built today are much larger and longer. The old facility was built in the 60s and we couldn’t even shut the bay doors because the trucks were sticking out,” he said.
Fire chief Alan Kulak also said that the new tower truck and many of the other new trucks require the cab to open on top to do mechanical work.
“We would have to roll the tower truck out, raise the tower, then we could open the cab of the truck to do maintenance work. If there was bad weather, we were down with the truck until it cleared up enough for us to do the work and put it back in service,” he said.
The old station only had a couple of bays to work on the trucks because of storage issues as well.
The new station, designed by Joiner Architects, and the general contractor was Axis Builders, boasts 11,000 square feet, with 2,000 of it upstairs for storage.
“There’s a gate on the landing of the second-floor stairs where we can open it up and use a forklift to move heavy things up there,” said Cameron Elles, assistant fire chief and committee member.
The new facility also has both rear and front entry with rollup doors, and six bays, three times the size of the previous building and long enough and high enough at 30 feet to accommodate raising the tower and the cab on the biggest truck.
There are a couple of small offices, a storage space for the auxiliary ladies and a rollup door in their space for easy loading and unloading. One of the nice features connecting to the floor where the maintenance is being done is a parts room.
“We will be able to stock parts we typically use often based on previous experience,” White said. It will save time and keep trucks operational as much as possible.
Another feature is a nice-sized weight room. The department wants firefighters to stay in shape as much as possible and provide equipment at the previous maintenance facility, however it was using up space in one of the bays. Now firefighters can use the equipment without impediment.
The department already has a certified emergency vehicle technician (EVT) to work on the trucks.
“No more shade-tree mechanics,” White said. “They have to be certified to touch these trucks in the event of a lawsuit, or for safety reasons as well.”
The only technology in the building is the security cameras and access control program system that allows them to control access to many of the rooms including entry and exits by mobile phone.
“It’s the same system we use throughout the district,” Elles said.
Elles was particularly helpful with the construction of the building since he already has a background in construction.
Members of the committee included Russell White, Cameron Ellis, Chuck Murray, and Buddy Brewer.
Work at the facility is already underway with two trucks receiving much-needed air conditioning repairs.
No bond was necessary to finance the construction.
“Now comes the hard part of moving in and getting everything set up,” White said.
The new maintenance facility for the Crosby Volunteer Fire Department sits behind Station 82 and will help service the 45 vehicles in the fleet. Photo by David Taylor
The old maintenance facility only had two bays and was too small for the newer fire trucks, so much so they actually couldn’t close the door and they would sitck out by about five feet. The new aintenance facility not only has the height to open the cabs to do the mechanical work, but the length to fit the newer apparatus. Photo by David Taylor
