This weekend, the Santa Monica Fire Department (SMFD) will break ground on a new “Fire Station 1” at 1337 7th Street, one block away from the current station.
Mayor Ted Winterer is celebrating the news as an important step for the city.
Fire Station 1 serves the downtown Santa Monica and is the city’s most active station with 8,948 calls for service a day in Fiscal Year 2016/17. As noted by Winterer, the new station will be seismically sound and will accommodate the personnel and equipment needs of the department. Here are other essential features of the new station:
- Two-story facility that spans over 28,000 square feet
- Able to remain operational after a major disaster, allowing fire personnel to continue providing vital services to the public
- Bathrooms and 20 dormitories to accommodate both male and female firefighters
- Community room available to the public to reserve for use
- Rooftop solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity, which will cut down on energy costs
- The building will achieve LEED V4 certification to ensure the project is designed and constructed to the highest level of sustainability
FS 1 houses SMFD’s largest equipment, including its ladder truck, which will be on display for the groundbreaking.
The groundbreaking will be split in two parts, one at the existing fire station and another at the site of the future station. Attendees can gather at 10 a.m. at the first station at 1444 7th for crafts with the firefighters. The groundbreaking begins at 11 and will include remarks by Winterer, Chief Bill Walker, Deputy Chief Tom Clemo, and City Architect Rebecca Abano. From there, guests and children are invited to enjoy activities, including:
- A virtual reality tour of the future home of Santa Monica’s busiest station
- Fire apparatus and trucks available to explore
- Arts and crafts with firefighters (families should start at the current station at 10 a.m. to help create the artwork that will be the backdrop for the 11 a.m. program!)
- Food and drinks
- Photo booth fun in front of a fire truck
- Important emergency preparedness information and sidewalk CPR
