Planning Fire Stations with Purpose and Performance in Mind

Episode Transcript

Mollie (Host)
Welcome to {Brief}ly Speaking, the SEH podcast that delivers essential AEC insights in just a few minutes. No fluff, just the essentials. Let's dive in. In this episode, we're focusing on one of the most important public buildings a community can invest in, the fire station. Behind every successful station is a department that plans not just for today, but for years to come. We'll explore why early decisions make or break these projects and how fire chiefs and city leaders can align safety, wellness, and costs to deliver long-lasting value. Joining us today is someone who's worked with departments across the country to design fire stations that truly perform. Stations that support daily operations, improve response times, and evolve with the needs of the community. He's a senior architect with experience in new builds, remodels, and feasibility studies, and he's known for helping clients right-size their projects from the very beginning. Chris Sigit-Sidharta, welcome to {Brief}ly Speaking.

Chris (Guest)
Thank you.

Mollie (Host)
To start us off, you've worked on fire station projects of all shapes and sizes. What is something that clients don't realize about designing one until they're kind of in the thick of it?

Chris (Guest)
That's an interesting question because in my experience, some of the fire departments, they have done their due diligence even before they start engaging the architects. It helps expedite the process quite a bit in the beginning because they know what they want and they know what they need so that we can just hit the ground running. One thing that we realize is even with all of that preparation and documents that you have prepared before, things will change and the budget shifts, the requirements shifts, there's a code update, there's policy updates, different things and internal and external feedbacks. It will take a little bit of time, I guess, to go through all of those changes. But in my opinion, that's the exciting part of my job, problem solve through all of these challenges, because going through it with the client and finding out what's best for them is, in my opinion, one of the most exciting parts of my job.

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Mollie (Host)
Yeah, you think about these designs and it's not a quick process. You're going through, you're trying to figure out exactly what they need, which is great if they have that idea and they come to you already. They know it best. So if you can have that conversation and listen to them, I think it makes your job a little bit easier from a starting point. You talk about some challenges like codes changing, funding... Can you dive a little bit more into the challenges that they're facing and then how we can help them navigate that situation?

Chris (Guest)
My suggestion for something like that when that happens is to really look into the fire department's priorities, I guess, and just really set them up in some kind of an order so that we can try to hit all of the main ones that we have to have, for the fire department and the fire station to be functional. Sometimes we do use the green, yellow, and red approach in terms of like if it's green, then you have to have it. Yellow, it's kind of like nice to have. If you have some budget, we'll try to fit it in. But red, it's not even nice to have. We don't even need it kind of thing. So sometimes we do that and then so that we can realign our priorities and making sure that everything that they need now with a little bit of future-proofing can be addressed on the current design with the budget that they have or any other constraints that they have.

Mollie (Host)
There are so many cool opportunities for a fire station. I guess I didn't really realize that. I thought that they were pretty cut and dry, but looking into some of our projects that we've done and then just some of the things that we're seeing as we move forward, there are really cool opportunities. That kind of leads me into my next question here. So fire stations are not like other buildings. It's not just like you're building, you know, the corner store down the street. They have unique staffing needs, they have different protocols, health requirements. How do these demands shape the way that you design from day one?

Chris (Guest)
Yeah, I always tell everybody, "No two fire stations are the same". If you have a prototype, you have some kind of a plan that you like of another station that you want to use, you cannot just like pop that same station into your station. Every department is different, even though they have the same operational needs. even walls needs to be shifted or like, this room is too small or too big, or like, that direct connection from the day room to the base is not ideal. So let's shift that a little bit. It will change. And just knowing all of that, the needs and unique requirements of each department and station and location, what's important that we need to really think from day one.

Mollie (Host)
Well, it almost feels, I mean, to me as a non-architect outsider, as if it's kind of a game of Tetris because you have these things that need to be included. you have to have the bays for the fire trucks and then you have to have the sleeping quarters and the kitchen and the living spaces because these people are staying there for long periods of time. And I don't even know what else all goes into it amenities wise, but you have to take the site that you're given and get all of those essentials like we talked about earlier, formatted in there in a way that flows organically. But then also they have things like we said, the wants that they, the specialty items that if they can afford them, they want to add those in. Then you got to sprinkle those in too. So yeah, every single one it feels like is unique and different. So let's talk about site selection. Are you typically involved in that process or do communities come to you with a site already in mind? Do they come to you and say, hey, we're looking at this, here's some options, what's your input? How does that process work?

Chris (Guest)
For the most part, most of my experience has been that the fire departments have done their due diligence, so they already like vetted a few different options. looking at response times within the community to maintain a certain certification to serve a neighborhood or an area. But we have done some cases too where we are part of that. We're actually like going through the options and giving them like the pros and cons and then the response times analysis, trying to figure out which one is the best option for their department. But yeah, I guess a few things to consider. Any planning and zoning requirements that are not, I mean, everybody knows about like, okay, how high can you build it, how big can you build it, things like that. But there's a lot of hidden requirements that are not immediately obvious when you're going through it that will really limit the amount of area that you can build on site. Flood plains can be, wetlands can be, you find out, hey, there's an easement cutting through half of your site that will really split your site into two kind of thing. That's a big. a big headache I guess that's coming in the future. And then any existing soil condition or any utility conditions that you may need to know about. Sometimes a developer would donate a land. It's like, hey, if you want to serve our neighborhood, we'll donate this land for you. But usually they didn't do too much due diligence on that. And then they found out later on that, oh, the soil in that area is just terrible. And it's just like, you have to import pretty much all the soil before you can build on it, which can be like $1,000,000, you know, if it's a big site. So my recommendation for that too is to do some survey and geotechnical investigation early on. It's cost, right? But in a way, it's a small cost that you have to accrue in the beginning of the project. If it's a million to import all of that site and then it's only a few 1000 to do the survey and the geotech, it's like maybe it's better for us to just select a different site and we can save that 1,000,000 to actually put towards the building itself instead of prepping the soil.

Mollie (Host)
Yeah, I mean, it's knowing what questions to ask, what to look for. I think that would be super helpful to a community, even if they have the perfect spot in mind. That obviously brings up budget. We've talked about budget in the past. This keeps coming up. It's A reoccurring thing. It's always a big thing for development projects in general. So what are some ways that you or SEH as a company can help communities get the station that they need? What are some options that we provide?

Chris (Guest)
One of the biggest things that I always recommend to any fire department or clients in general too is to engage the general contractor early on. The general contractors is the one that will be in the forefront of knowing the market condition, all the construction trends, any potential escalations, anything that affects the budget for a fire station, they will be the first one to know. So in a way, engaging them early so that we can reduce the need for any redesign. If you find out later on after you're done with the design and drawings that you cannot afford the station that you already designed, then you have to go back to square one and then you will have to prolong the schedule quite a bit, which costs time and money. And then the redesign itself will also cost time and money. Something that I'm sure everybody agrees that we want to put all of them extra money into the building itself. And then another thing that we can do, I guess, depending on how we are with the budget is doing some kind of a phasing. And we always have to deal with the balancing of the short-term budget, I guess, in a way, compared to the long-term needs, because we always want to future-proof, right? We just don't want to just build for now. You want to know, because the building will last like 10 or 20 years, or at least we hope that they will last that long before we need to expand, right, or do more things. So in a way, we have to think about 10, 20 years ahead and then really future-proof and plan for it. But we have to deal with the budget that we have now. So that's always a balance that you have to do. So by doing some facing, it may have. At least you're thinking about it and you have room to grow so that we can again go back to the priorities again and figure out what doing it now.

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Mollie (Host)
Yeah, so it gives them an opening for future growth. Is there grants specific to fire stations or public service buildings?

Chris (Guest)
There usually are, and we can help with that. We have some experts within SGH that can help with fundings, right? And it can be federal, state, or even the city, sometimes we'll have different grants that we can get applied on public buildings, especially fire station being like a public safety building, you know, so there's a lot of grants there that we can look into depending on where you are. So we'll be happy to help with that. We have some experts within SEH to help you with that.

Mollie (Host)
I feel like that would be something communities would be interested in: always looking for the money. So you talked about future proofing our buildings, which is great. And sustainability is a big part of that. It's coming up more and more often in public projects. How are fire departments incorporating energy efficiency or resilient designs? And on the other hand, what's realistic for communities to take on right now? Like you said, sometimes it's not in the budget. We want to do it.

Chris (Guest)
The fortunate part of sustainability, I feel like it's becoming more normal. So it's more normal than most people think. It's like something that used to be like a premium because it's, a sustainability technology or methods, I guess. Now it's becoming more common, and it's like already part of the code or like it's becoming more cost-effective, so it's a no-brainer anymore. But we'll be happy to like to go through like different options that the fire department wants to like be involved with. The most typical things is like doing certain energy efficient techniques or like approaches like doing geothermal or like doing solar panels, things like that, making sure all of the equipments are energy efficient. Those are like the simple things, but we can get more into different things too, like the materials sustainability, so it's not off-gassing anything into the occupant. And then also in terms of certification, I know that some jurisdictions, some clients will want to have that certification. That's one thing that we can help with for sure. We have a lot of sustainability experts at SEH that can help you with that. But more and more too, a lot of because of like you mentioned about the budget constraints, like a lot of clients just want to design to it and not actually pursue the certification. So that's also a more realistic way to do it.

Mollie (Host)
It's comforting, I think, to hear that sustainability is just becoming the standard. If we can do those things, why not? And they shouldn't be at a higher cost or really just switching one option out for the other that can make a longer lasting product. Another shift that we're seeing is how fire stations are approaching firefighter wellness. And so from hot and cold zone design to sleeping quarters, how have you in your designs throughout your career seen these priorities evolve?

Chris (Guest)
For me, I feel like the wellness and safety of the occupants, the firefighters, I feel like that priority has always been there. I don't think it's really shifting too much, but I feel like the part that's shifting is more like how do we get there? New technology, new trends, new approaches, I guess, are happening. And then People just shift their minds about like what's considered helping with the wellness of the occupants. I feel like that's the part of shifting. In my opinion, the safety of the occupants is always the main thing. That's one of the priorities that some of the fire departments have communicated to me that retaining firefighters is one of their biggest challenges. It's kind of like a revolving door, you know, it's like this you have to like keep on retraining all the time, all of the firefighters, but by retaining them longer, then they can focus on different things and how do we retain them is by making sure that safety and wellness and well-being of the firefighters is top priority. So they feel safe when they go to work and then they also feel like they're home because they do spend a few days at a time. So how do you do that? In my opinion, yeah, the hot, warm and cold zones is one of the biggest things that we have to do. We want to completely isolate the bad stuff with the good stuff, like the daily stuff that you have to spend most of your time in and then all of the bad stuff being in the hot zones where all of the carcinogens are at. If you can isolate it and doing some air locks and things like that, just to make sure the air doesn't mix, and also with some technology on the HVACs just to do some positive pressure and things like that, giving them individual customization opportunities and personal spaces is the best thing. Some people sleep cold, some people sleep hot. Having that individual thermostat in their dorm rooms is important. And then some people likes to sleep with some noise. Some people like complete silence. And then some people likes to sleep when there's light. Some people likes complete darkness. So that customization opportunities, I guess, in the dorm rooms is important just to make them feel comfortable. When you're in the beginning of the project, you kind of know what you want, but not until you actually live there and spend some time, you will know what works and what doesn't, and the ability to customize all of that is what's important.

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Mollie (Host)
Do you see a difference in the location in the fire stations and how they're designed? So for example, is something in Arizona designed the same way or with the same needs as a station in Florida?

Chris (Guest)
The needs for the fire departments are different, in my opinion. If you are in the mountainous area of Colorado, then you have to deal with wildfires, right? So the need for decon is different. The need for the vehicles that you store in the bay is different compared to the ones in coastal regions. You know, like you said, in Florida, you probably will need hurricane relief and actually the building itself needs to be hurricane proof, right, because it will have to meet a certain standard being a critical facility. But also because of that, maybe the vehicles that they have, they need water rescue. It's always different because of the need and the type of responses that the fire department provides to the community that changes things.

Mollie (Host)
We talked a lot about designing brand new stations, but on the flip side of that, there are a lot of communities that have stations already built. They're maybe getting a little outdated. What does retrofitting a fire station look like? Remodeling, retrofitting, adding a new technology, what does that look like?

Chris (Guest)
That's a really good question because, I mean, it's great when you can build a new station to meet your needs, but not every fire department or jurisdiction have that privilege of doing that right because of different reasons. The biggest technique that I usually go through with the fire department is actually just to understand their needs and actually like surveying the existing condition and see what can we do to actually update the station. The most common, I guess, problems that they have is the HVAC just being completely outdated. So we can definitely help with that. Also, just architecturally and to touch a little bit on the earlier point regarding the firefighters, it's actually anything that's really outdated. You know, it's like a lot of older fire stations, you know, they just feel a little bit outdated and dark, I guess. Some people even use the term "dungeony" from some of the fire departments that I've talked to for their existing stations. You know, for some reason, daylight was not a big priority back then, maybe because of the sleep cycle that they have to go through. They want to make sure that it's kind of dark. But talking about your earlier questions too about trends, daylights and biophilic design is becoming a trend because people just want to get all of that natural light. For the common spaces and the base, daylight is pretty important for them to work in. And also, a fire station that was perfect back then, now they need a taller equipment, they need a longer equipment, or for maintenance reasons too, they need to be able to like tilt the cap up in the building if you're in a region where you don't have the privilege to work outside, all year long because of snow or weather. So you want to be able to accommodate all of that. So we can help with the expansion of the station by making it longer for the base or like taller to accommodate different vehicles or equipment. We'll be happy to go through all of those challenges with you.

Mollie (Host)
But that's great that you're thinking of those things and then that you have options of how to meet where we're at now for stations that are like, we're outdated already. How can we do this for a smaller cost? That's great. So Chris, for listeners who are early in their planning process or are just kind of start looking at their station, like, I think we need a new one, we need to update this, we're expanding. What's the best way to connect with you?

Chris (Guest)
Yeah, I'd love to connect with anybody who's actually planning for a fire station or just even just exploring your options. it's like we can have a brief talk or we can deep dive into any challenges that you have. I'll be happy to do that. That's why I became an architect because yeah, that's what I find exciting, I guess, when designing a fire station. So yeah, you can contact me through my e-mail csigit-sidharta@sehinc.com. Also, feel free to just give me a call. I'll be happy to talk to you.

Mollie (Host)
Well, thank you so much for joining us. It's clear that successful fire station design takes more than just a floor plan as we've talked about today. It takes a partner who understands the operational and also the community context behind every decision. They're so individualized. That is insane to me. I mean, I knew that kind of going into this but hearing you speak about it, is so individualized. Hopefully this conversation gives our listeners a clear path forward, whether they're just starting or picking back up on a paused project. And thank you for listening to {Brief}ly Speaking.

Chris (Guest)
Thank you for having me.