Gresham fire stations gain grants for seismic upgrades
Global catastrophes have underlined need for preparation
A state grant of nearly $288,000 will leverage a previously awarded grant, allowing Gresham’s four fire stations to be upgraded to withstand an earthquake.
Gresham Fire & Emergency Services and Gresham Emergency Management received the latest funds from the Oregon Emergency Management’s Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program last month.
The money will fund seismic improvements to Station 72 at 500 N.E. Kane Drive and Station 71, located on the west end of the public safety and school district building at Gresham City Hall.
The grant also funds improvements to the Gresham Police Department, housed in the same building as Station 71. But Gresham’s City Council chambers and the Gresham-Barlow School District offices on the east end of the building are not covered.
City officials are coordinating with the school district to fund seismic improvements to its share of the building, said Deborah Bond, Gresham’s finance director.
What that will cost the district, and the city for improvements to its council chambers, is unknown.
Fire Chief Scott Lewis said the grant doubles the number of stations to be seismically rehabilitated. The city had already received a nearly $392,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program to provide seismic upgrades to Station 73, 2301 S.W. Pleasant View Drive, and Station 74, 1520 N.E. 192nd Ave.
Gresham’s share for improving its four fire stations and police department totals $246,636, or about 27 percent of the total project cost of $926,008.
No basic remodel
“The buildings will look the same,” Lewis said, adding that the grant doesn’t pay for expansions or general remodels. Instead, the goal is to reinforce a building’s weak spots, such as where ceilings meet walls, to make sure it remains standing during an earthquake. That way firefighters, paramedics and police officers can get out and tend to injured residents, extinguish fires or in general keep the peace.
“We won’t say they won’t be damaged,” Lewis said of the stations. “They may need to be repaired or replaced. But they should be able to be used during the emergency.”
Since the 1990s, fire officials have recognized the need for seismic upgrades to its stations, many of which were built in the 1970s. But voters decided against passing bonds to pay for the improvements.
Lewis said the recent string of catastrophic earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Turkey have heightened awareness of the need for buildings to be seismically upgraded – as well as the need for residents to have 72-hour emergency kits.
But considering the transportation failures seen in those devastated countries, he recommends keeping a week’s supply of food, water, medicine and the like instead of only three days.
Fall/winter 2010, summer 2011 construction
Construction on stations 73 and 74 could start this fall or winter. Construction on stations 71, 72 and the police department is expected to start in summer of 2011.
Gresham Fire & Emergency Services operates out of seven fire stations. Fire District 10 owns stations 75, at 600 N.E. Cherry Park Road, and 76, at 7144 S.E. 302nd Ave. Lewis said he hopes to work with the district to apply for similar grants in the next funding cycle.
The last station served by Gresham Fire & Emergency Services is Station 31 at 1927 S.E. 174th Ave. Gresham firefighters staff it for one shift and Portland firefighters staff the other two shifts.
Owned by the city of Portland, the station will be torn down and rebuilt this fall as part of a bond Portland voters approved eight years ago, said Lt. Allen Oswalt, the Portland Fire Bureau’s spokesman. The bond funded seismic upgrades to all Portland fire stations.