Cape council updated on new $2 million fire station

Cape Girardeau City Council members got a glimpse Monday night of what the city's new $2 million fire station will look like, as an architect presented a drawing and description of the biggest project from last year's quarter-cent sales tax measure.

The drawing showed a preliminary plan for the new fire station No. 3, which will be on North Sprigg Street, just north of Blanchard Elementary School. The new fire station will replace the existing fire station No. 3 on Emerald Street.

According to Joseph M. Frigerio, who works for Archimages Architecture/Planning in St. Louis, the new station will be a fire department, but will also house the emergency operations center and a 911 dispatch center.

"Our goal was to take in a number of issues and work in these three components," he said.

Frigerio said the new station will be a two-story building in order to keep the fire department and other two components separate. The lower level, he said, will be the emergency operations center and 911 dispatch center and the upper level would be the fire department.

"They needed to be separate in order to control their environment," he said. "If a disaster happened, a manmade or natural disaster, it would still survive and serve its purpose. Residents could call in case of an emergency."

The upper level would include a training room, a storage area, living quarters and dining area as well as a day room and offices. The lower portion would have eight consoles for 911 dispatchers. There would be four initially with room for four more when the need arises.

Currently, fire station No. 3 on Emerald only has one engine and three personnel. The new station would house eight personnel in the fire department section and still have room for more.

"But the new station would allow us room for growth," said fire chief Rick Ennis. "We've been making slow but very steady progress. We've been slow for a reason. We're taking our time because we want to do it right."

Ennis said that bids are expected to go out in August and they hope to break ground in mid-October. They hope for the building to be fully functional by September or October of 2006.

City manager Doug Leslie said that a team made up of 12 city and fire department personnel has been working on the project. Leslie said that the team has visited other stations.

"Our plan depicts a lot of features from a lot of other good stations," Leslie said. "We're very pleased with the current plans."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137