Station more than a decade on the wish list
Fire Chief Daniel Boyer has been lobbying for a new station for more than a decade.(Kristina Edson)
The firefighters equipment room allows teams to get ready in minimal time. (Kristina Edson)
The new Saint Lazare fire station is now the safest building in town. (Kristina Edson)
Saint Lazare fire chief Daniel Boyer can’t quite hide the pride he feels when showing off the new “house,” which is what the 43 person team of municipal firefighters call their $5.2 million fire station.
With a total 15,000-square-feet of space, including a three-story tower where wet fire hoses can dry after a call, the new station is more than three times the space of its predecessor, situated just around the corner on Ave. Bedard.
Boyer said the “house” is divided into three main blocks: administrative offices, firefighters quarters, and a garage for a fleet of trucks including a new pumper obtained last June, a First Responder medical unit and a tank-like search and rescue vehicle boasting pedrail wheels that gives it easy access to the plethora of nature and equestrian trails found in the town
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The space increase has helped boost moral greatly, Boyer admitted, noting that he shared one office with six men in the old station.
“I had to ask them to go into the garage when I needed to have a private conversation,” the chief, who will celebrate his 10th anniversary heading the unit this month, recalled.
He has been pushing for a new station to meet the growing municipality’s needs for more than a decade.
Saint Lazare’s population has grown to close to 20,000 residents. Firefighters, who are also trained first responders, answered 450 emergency calls last year and another 600 medical calls.
“I worked 30 years with the Montreal fire department and that’s almost as many calls as some stations there receive,” Boyer said.
Safe structure
The new station is now the safest building in Saint Lazare as it has been built to codes to withstand earthquakes and tornadoes.
The firefighter’s quarters were designed to allow for the shortest time possible for firefighter to get from the kitchen, sleeping quarters or locker rooms, to the equipment room and onto a truck. To that end, each step in the building was counted in the design phase to allow for the fewest possible to get from one point to another.
“We have to meet the provincial standard of having 10 firefighters on the scene within 15-minutes or less so every step literally counts,” Boyer explained.
The 43 firefighters are divided into 4 teams of 10 firefighters. Two remain at the station 24-hours a day, seven days a week, while others are paid to be on call, meaning they must remain in the municipality and in work-ready condition.
The station’s exterior design also included counting steps from the firefighter’s parking lot, on the side of the building, into the building itself.
Other safety and function features include large rollup garage doors at the building’s front and back. These allow trucks to leave from the front, but return and maneuver into the building via a large parking lot in back.
“It was a big safety hazard trying to get in and out of the old building,” Boyer said, “this is optimal.”
The station also boasts an industrial diesel generator that will keep it running indefinitely.
In the event of a large-scale emergency the station will become the municipal command centre.
The town benefitted from a provincial grant covering close to 55-percent of the project’s cost. The municipal council is expected to pass a close to $2-million borrowing bylaw early next year, according to Saint Lazare mayor Robert Grimaudo. The new station will be inaugurated in January. An open house will take place in June.
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