Work is well underway to seismically retrofit the stations of West Side Rural Fire Protection District, starting with its original facility, the Rockford station. Old columns are out of whack and new columns and headers are being added to shore up the station.
“In the event of an earthquake, it will stiffen the building up so it doesn’t want to fall over,” is how project supervisor Ryan Larson of Kirby Nagelhout Construction summarized the work. WSRFD has the distinction of being the only local firefighting district with two facilities.
The Rockford station is empty of equipment until sometime in January, as crews do upgrades on the roof, walls and flooring. In January, the work will shift substantially to the Tucker Road station, with completion on both facilities anticipated in September 2020.
The district received a pair of grants for the project: $1,251,595 for Station 1, also known as Rockford Station, and $1,225,109 for Station 2, also known as Tucker Road Station. Tne grants are through the Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program (SRGP), a State of Oregon competitive grant program that provides funding for the seismic rehabilitation of critical public buildings, particularly public schools and emergency services facilities.
While Rockford is the larger facility, the District’s office is located at the Tucker Road station, as well as the office of Ice Fountain Water District. “We’re adding sheeting to basically tie everything together so it can’t flex and move as much,” Larsen said. “Right now, the whole buidling can move and you can see in some areas such as the front columns that have settled and are leaning about an inch right now.”
“We’ll get the interior of this one done and then move,” Larsen said. “We have to leave one station functioning. We’ll get the inside of this one done and start on the inside of the other.”
In the spring, both buildings will get new siding and will be repainted. Station 1 dates to 1948, when a group of Rockford Grange members formed the fire department out of a grange barn on the property. The facility, which includes a commercial kitchen and large meeting room adorned with the “Order of the Door” annual award panels, has been added onto in phases over the years. Station 2 was built with a federal grant in 1972 and is about half the footprint size of Station 1.
“We have trucks scattered around, with most of the big engines at Station 2, because it’s still in service,” fire marshal Jim Trammell said.
For example, the department’s salvage truck is parked at Jim Murhy’s home, next door to the Rockford station. The department also recently sold two pieces of surplus equipment. Larson said additional vertical steel columns are being installed, and they will tie into steel headers that bolt to roof decking. A new concrete slab was poured on a portion of the floor, while the existing concrete will be ground down and covered with epoxy and paint for greater durability.
“It’s been pretty easy so far, but we’re opening up things that haven’t been opened in 40-50 years, and you find things you don’t expect, structural things, but nothing crazy,” Larson said. Overhead, the original “hot mop” tar roof is being covered with plywood and nailed off “to create a different sheer structure on the upper side of it to tie the building together,” Larson explained.
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