After years of living and working in the cramped quarters of an outdated facility, the men and women posted at the Chattanooga Fire Department’s Station 15 will soon have a new building to call “home away from home.”
The new Station 15 on Shallowford Road will stand on the same property as the 63-year-old Station 15 and will provide enhanced service to the Eastdale community.
After the CFD demolishes its current Station 15, Robert Roberts LLC will build the new station at a cost of $4.3 million.
Station 15 will go from a single-bay station to a two-bay, 9,500 square-foot building that will have space to accommodate more personnel and apparatus, allowing for further expansion of the fire department as Chattanooga continues to grow in population.
The new facility will have a kitchen, a living area, sleeping rooms, showers, locker rooms and a gym.
The CFD command staff has been advocating for a new Station 15 for “a number of years,” says a representative, and recently received the capital funding for the project from the City Council and Mayor Kelly’s staff.
Engine 15 and the personnel that work at Fire Station 15 on all three of its rotating 24-hour shifts will be relocated to Station 6 on Bonny Oaks Drive for the duration of construction.
“The new Station 15 will create a much better working environment for our firefighters and is precisely what the CFD needs as we look to the future of our department and city,” says Chattanooga Fire Chief Phil Hyman.
To ensure rapid response times to emergencies in Station 15’s response area while construction is underway, Chattanooga city leaders have installed stop lights in the Wilcox Tunnel to allow fire trucks to pass through the tunnel.
This was made possible through a collaborative effort between the CFD, the Chattanooga Department of Transportation and the Department of Technology Services.
Crews must currently use routes that go around the tunnel because it’s too narrow for them to fit with other vehicles. Stopping traffic and allowing fire apparatus to go through will cut down on travel time and enable firefighters to respond to calls faster, says the CFD representative.
The new Fire Station 15 will be a model design for future fire station builds as the CFD continues working to meet the city’s increased service needs, including a new location in Black Creek.
The CFD has already added nine new firefighter positions for a presence and fire protection in that area. More personnel will come in future budgets.