New Cape fire station meets three needs

When Cape Girardeau firefighters move into a modern high-tech fire station on North Sprigg Street in June, the city will accomplish three goals at once.

The new station meets the needs of a population shift to the north, replaces the long-outgrown station on Emerald Street and will provide a new underground 911/Emergency Operations Center that allows for future growth and will be needed in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

"So with this, we're killing three birds with one stone," said fire chief Rick Ennis.

The $2.85 million project is being paid for by the fire safety tax, which was passed in 2004. The most noticeable improvement for firefighters moving from the current 55-year-old location on Emerald Street will be the elbow room. The upper level of the new station, where the bedrooms, storage space and garage location will be, is more than 10,000 square feet, more than five times the size of the current station.

The living quarters will be modernized. Gone will be the one-room bunk quarters and gang showers where privacy was nonexistent.

The exterior of the fire station that is under construction.

Ennis said modern firefighters, men and women, appreciate having a space to themselves. The station initially will be staffed by three firefighters on 24-hour shifts, but the space has room for two more if needs change.

Additionally, the station has a space which the city will initially use to store extra records. The space may one day be converted into extra bunkrooms.

"It gives us room to grow," Ennis said.

Growing is precisely what the Cape Girardeau Fire Department has been doing.

Overall, the department responded to 3,350 calls in 2006, a record high, up 5 percent from 2005 (also a record high). In the 1.5-to-2-mile radius covered by the new station No. 3, including the Show Me Center and Southeast Missouri State University, calls have rapidly increased for five years. Calls numbered 386 in 2002, 565 last year.

Ennis said the increase is not due to a rash of arsons but because of a natural result of neighborhood growth.

Another feature the new station will have that the previous one lacked is a "bay garage." The three-engine garage has doors at the front and rear allowing drivers to pull in from the rear and have the engines primed to get out on the road. At the old station, one firefighter must stop traffic while the engine backs into the garage.

Firefighters are excited about a workout and weightroom for men and women to stay fit while on shift. "That was probably our No. 1 request," Ennis said. "Heart attacks and stress-related fatalities are the number one cause of death for firefighters across the country."

Staying in shape is key to warding off stress. Firefighters are often asked to move from being sedentary to fighting a blaze in a life-and-death struggle.

To law enforcement, the most exciting portion of the new facility is the 5,100-square-foot emergency operations and 911 center. The facility will serve as the nerve center in the event of an emergency where department heads, first responders and the city manager can monitor progress and stay in contact with those in the field.

It is equipped with a data projector capable of projecting computer data onto a pull-down screen and three fully stocked closets equipped with any maps, contact lists and other material needed by police, fire or the public works department.

The center also has a "situation room" that could be used for meetings with FEMA or other outside agencies who may intervene in the event of a disaster.

Adjoining that area is the 2,000-square-foot 911 center where dispatchers will answer all emergency calls originating from within Cape Girardeau. The area is four times the size of the current 911 center and will be able to accommodate six operators, about twice the current number.

"We're concerned about future growth, and this gives us that ability to grow," Ennis said.

The new facility also has windows, a big improvement to operators at the police station who historically have worked in a walled-in space.

The entire facility is built to current seismic standards, making it the only police or fire station in the city at that level.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245