Here’s a sneak peek at the new Fire Station No. 3 in Cherrydale.
Previously, the firefighters had to rent space from the Cherrydale Volunteer Fire Department in the facility two blocks away. The size of the new 14,100 square foot station allowed for the addition of meeting rooms and offices, as well as a significantly larger exercise room and laundry room.
The station provides a more gender-neutral workplace due to the improvements in restroom facilities and dorms. Previously, firefighters had to share a large dorm room and only one restroom. Now, each firefighter gets his or her own dorm room which includes lockers, a changing area and a restroom.
Each dorm room is also equipped with an alarm device above the bed to alert firefighters to a call. The alarm gradually becomes louder to help reduce shock to firefighters’ systems, instead of the previous alarms which suddenly jolted them awake with a loud tone.
There are fewer fluorescent light fixtures and nearly all of the lighting is LED. This is one of the features making the station more “green” than the previous facility. The lights throughout the station turn red to alert firefighters when a call comes in, and to help them maintain night vision if a call happens during the night.
The public gets a chance to tour the nearly $4.5 million dollar facility at 4100 Old Dominion Drive during the open house this Saturday from 10am-2pm.
