Firehouse Magazine Article HIGHLIGHT

"Selecting the right piece of land for a new fire station is among the most important decisions to be made when designing a new facility. A station’s location is a key element to providing effective service based on both current and future service demands driven by actual and projected hazards and risks."

"Beyond the geographical location, more immediate contextual features affect the suitability of a site, such as access to arterials, traffic, terrain, available utilities and the general density and character of the targeted surroundings. Evaluating and acquiring property for a future fire station can be a complex and lengthy process."

Check out the first 3 of the 10 tips Brian and Forest share in the Firehouse article:

"1. Talk with others who have worked through the process.

Your peers and colleagues with recent experience with the site-acquisition process are among your best resources. Tour recently built facilities and find out what did and didn’t work during the site selection process.

2. Assemble the right team.

Start with assembling the internal team and assign clear decision-making roles and responsibilities. Consideration should also be given to establishing a community oversight committee. Typically, a team of professionals will need to be hired to assist in navigating site selection. This team may include architects, real-estate/land acquisition specialists, legal counsel, response-modeling consultants, geotechnical engineers, environmental engineers, traffic planners and community outreach consultants.

3. Understand your response needs.

Through geographic information system (GIS) technology modeling, and a clear understanding of your local circumstances, the mapping of current and future values, hazards, risks and protection can be done, which will help in defining a target site location. This effort should include economic and growth projections.

In short, the goal is to identify what there is to protect and how best to protect it based on current and future available resources. Always keep in mind that this is a dynamic relationship often based on multiple facilities/resources and your standard of coverage and deployment plan."

Click here to read the full article written by TCA's very own Brian Harris and Forest Hooker