The Seattle Fire Department plans to build a new Fire Station 6 in the Central Area. However, its proposed location is drawing criticism.
The new station would use a building owned by the Central Area Motivation Program (CAMP), a community outreach organization. DeCharlene Williams, who established the Central Area Chamber of Commerce, believes there are sites more suitable for the station.
The current plan for the new fire station has created "friction in the community," Williams said.
Seattle Fire Chief Gregory Dean met with the Central Area Chamber of Commerce to discuss the recommended site. He explained that the city has certain criteria for selecting the best site for the new station. The proposed location, on the southwest corner of South Jackson Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, has been deemed the most favorable.
OVERLAPPING RESPONSIBILITIES
The city began researching potential sites soon after voters approved the Fire Facilities and Emergency Response Levy in 2003. The levy was created to improve fire safety throughout Seattle. More than three dozen sites were considered for the station; after evaluation, they were narrowed to three finalists.
Dean believes the MLK location is the best because it is not far from the current Station 6, at 101 23rd Ave. S. The new Station 6 would remain between Stations 30 and 34 to enable backup support.
"Fire stations are like Olympic rings," Dean said. "Their responsibilities overlap each other."
The boundaries for Station 6 run from East Madison Street to south of Interstate 90, and from Broadway to Lake Washington.
According to the fire levy's fact sheet, other new-station requirements include good street access with minimal traffic congestion; a site that is 14,000 to 20,000 square feet; and the fire department's response time should be preserved or improved. The site should be commercially zoned, vacant or under-improved property after other criteria are met. Acquisition costs are also considered, as well as community impact.
AN 'OUTRAGED' COMMUNITY
Williams doesn't want CAMP to close because it "gives service to a lot of poor people," she said.
The program gives food vouchers and has clothing programs. It helps pay water and light bills for low-income families and has educational programs to help people recently out of prison. It brings shelter to the homeless and helps senior citizens.
Currently, it has two locations: one on 18th Avenue and the other on Martin Luther King Way South, the proposed fire-station site.
"The community is kind of outraged" by this, Williams said, and petitions are circulating in the Central Area.
If it were up to Williams, she would like to have CAMP remain and keep helping people because "the poor will always be among us."
Dale Morris, a CAMP executive board member, agrees there are other sites more appropriate. He said CAMP plans to develop housing for area residents. The city offered to pay CAMP for the building, but Morris said it wasn't adequate because "the amount they offered was less than $1 million."
The city is trying to buy property early to save taxpayers money, Dean said.
The MLK location would improve response to Emergency Medical Service (EMS) calls. Of all business calls to fire stations, 75 percent to 80 percent are EMS calls, he said. It is important to him that the community knows what is going on, he said: "We'd like this to be a very visible process."
CRUCIAL UPDATES
The goal of the fire levy, approved by 69 percent of Seattle voters in 2003, is to improve 32 neighborhood fire stations throughout the city. According to Christina Faine, Fire Levy communications officer, the levy is crucial in updating fire facilities like Station 6, which has doors that are too narrow to support fire operations.
Station 6 is only 4,960 square feet and was built in 1931. It recently became a historic landmark. Because of the site terrain and the historic context, expanding the station on its current site is prohibited.
Faine said after the new station is built, the old station will be sold and all its proceeds will go back into the levy funds.
The new station will maintain current responsibilities plus new requirements, Chief Dean said. The new building will enable equipment to be decontaminated. A water-retention system also will be installed to clean water from the decontamination process.
There will also be enough room to protect equipment from ultraviolet rays, which limit their lifetime.
The staff of eight crew members will remain the same.
The station is scheduled to be designed in 2009 and constructed in 2010. For more information go to www.seattle.gov/firelevy.[[In-content Ad]]
