While a dedication ceremony has not been set for the new Imperial fire station on Pine Street in Findlay, firefighters and local officials conducted a recent safety training session as a test run inside their new facility.
The session on March 30 was in the Consol Energy Training Room, which was built within the new station with a $40,000 donation from Consol Energy Inc. The company provided safety training for the volunteer firefighters that night.
The energy producer has a 9,000-acre natural gas development with six well pad sites at Pittsburgh International Airport within a few miles of the Imperial fire station and the Clinton substation.
Consol officials said the fire department plays a vital role in its emergency response plan.
Imperial Volunteer Fire Department covers emergencies in Findlay, which is the largest township in Allegheny County and serves 5,100 residents. It also provides support to surrounding areas.
The training center was dedicated April 1 during an event announcing the natural gas producer’s deployment of high-horsepower engines designed to significantly cut air pollution emitted by its hydraulic fracturing fleet.
The training room, with an occupancy of about 100, will also host the annual street fair in June and will be available for the public to rent.
The new $1.25 million fire station has been a long time coming. Land for the building was purchased from Findlay in 1999.
Construction at the site of the one-time Findlay School District middle school building and later a West Allegheny site began Jan. 18, 2014, and is nearing completion. Wet and muddy weather last year caused multiple delays with the project. Currently, the department has a partial occupancy permit.
“There is a lot of work to do outside, but that will come with the weather,” said Chief Robert Bradburn Jr., who has been with the department for 21 years.
Each entrance of the 10,300-square-foot building is adorned with the firefighters’ Maltese cross embossed into the concrete. The department will later stain these symbols to make them stand out. Future plans include installation of a 35-foot flag pole, paving of the parking lot and installation of an LED sign.
Station 152 boasts a state-of-the-art heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, including in-floor radiant heating throughout. The heating system under the four concrete bays where the fire and emergency vehicles are kept extends to the pads outside of the garage doors keeping winter ice and snow from building up. It also allows the department to wash its firetrucks inside year-round.
A generator system offers 100 percent redundancy, allowing the structure to run on standby power, making the site available as a staging area for a disaster or as an emergency shelter.
The firefighters all seem to agree that the best parts of the new building are the much wider and taller garage doors. The department will no longer have to special order firetrucks to fit in the 10-foot doors of its former Main Street location.
“Our options are wide open now. It was just a needed station,” Chief Bradburn said.
Plans to expand the Clinton substation to avoid the same clearance issues are in the early stages. The department also serves the Westbury neighborhood with its Aten Road substation.
“Most of the money we’ve used to build this building is through frugal, frugal penny-pinching,” Chief Bradburn said.
The department owes about $250,000 and instead of a mortgage decided to finance with a lease loan using the fire equipment for collateral.
“It’s a beautiful station. Compared to the old station, it’s night and day,” said Rick Martin, a firefighter who lives in Walden Woods about 2 miles from the station.
Sonja Reis, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.
First Published: April 10, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
