Tri-Cities Spotlight: New Fire Stations Serve Growing Communities in Eastern Washington
AHBL’s Tri-Cities office has collaborated with our Spokane office to provide services for five of the six new fire stations in the Tri-Cities over the past several years.
Fire departments in the Tri-Cities have been planning for growth by building and undergoing planning efforts for six new fire stations. The addition of new fire stations allows first responders to arrive on-scene more quickly. As the Tri-Cities population grows, so to do the needs of emergency services. The importance of quick response times has also been heightened during the extreme fire seasons we’ve seen in recent years. Some project schedules were delayed due to COVID-19, but many are currently under construction.
On two key projects, the AHBL team has provided design services utilizing Design/Build project delivery:
Pasco Fire Station 84, City of Pasco, WA
AHBL provided landscape architecture services for the design of a new $7.5M 21,800 sq. ft. fire station, administrative offices and storage. The project is expected to be completed in February 2022.
The 16,663-square-foot building will house eight administrators and includes a station with four equipment bays and support facilities for personnel, such as living and sleeping quarters and a preparation area.
Richland Fire Station 74, City of Richland, WA
Richland Fire Station No. 74 opened in 2015 and became the fourth station in city limits. The new $2.8M building has capacity for 6 firefighters and helps reduce response times in the surrounding area.
Richland Fire Station 74 was not originally planned as a design-build project and was to be located at a different site. However, after investigating the design-build process, the city determined that the station could be built 3-6 months ahead of schedule and on city-owned property. Through innovations available with the design-build delivery method, the project included the fourth apparatus bay which was not originally in the budget.
These projects required close, critical collaboration with both the project team and AHBL team members among the Spokane and Tri-Cities' office locations. AHBL’s land survey and civil engineering team had to work closely to identify key elements of the project – like boundary issues – and resolve them quickly. Through inter-office and inter-disciplinary collaboration, these projects will aid the Tri-Cities first responders in providing critical services to the rapidly growing community.
Article note: AHBL is also providing design services on Richland Fire Stations 73 and 75 and the Kennewick Fire Station 65.