New Station
“After 22 years at our current location and almost three years of searching for an acceptable site, we are eager to move forward,” said Fire Chief Bruce Mygatt. “We’ve simply out grown our current facility, and with the zoning and building codes, we can’t add on or build a larger facility on our current site. Maintenance costs are becoming prohibitive and the safety of our firefighters and local traffic issues are real concerns,” said the chief.
In 2006, the taxpayers of the Boulder Rural Fire Protection District approved a mill levy that included building a new fire station, in addition to other fire department initiatives. After an extensive search, Boulder Rural found a suitable location on Lookout Road in Gunbarrel that is close to their “call centroid,” the center of past emergency calls. Boulder Rural protects the properties in unincorporated Boulder County, which includes areas to the north, east, and west of the city.
“We’ve had discussions with the neighboring fire departments, the Colorado State Patrol, and local ambulance providers to share our new facility,” said Chief Mygatt. “Our goals are to create a multi-agency, multi-use public safety facility and to be cost effective and efficient with our taxpayers’ dollars.”
The central location of the new station will help Boulder Rural improve its overall response times and enhance the automatic mutual aid arrangements with the Boulder Fire Department. “We look forward to continuing our close working relationship with our neighbors at Boulder Fire Station 6,” said Mygatt.
The challenging economic climate presents an opportune time to begin the new fire station project. Property can be purchased at a lower cost, and labor and construction costs are reduced. In addition, Boulder Rural successfully negotiated a Build America Bond loan, which provides a 35-percent credit on the interest paid because of the additional jobs the project creates.
The Boulder Rural Fire Protection District, established in 1957 as an all-volunteer fire department, became a combination department in 1999 with volunteers, specialists, and career members. Boulder Rural is now a fully staffed fire department with advanced life support, emergency medical, and rescue services, in addition to HazMat and wildland fire suppression, with 50 members. The department is continuously staffed with a minimum of an officer, an engineer, and a firefighter, one of whom is a paramedic. A combination department, which is a mix of career and volunteer personnel, is beneficial to the department’s particular call load and response area, which includes 25 square miles with 17,000 people and approximately 7,000, mostly residential, properties.
In addition to responding to emergencies, Boulder Rural is extremely active and well received in the community. It holds public education programs for schools, homeowners, and senior citizens. It attends birthday parties for children, provides meeting space, holds community CPR classes, and installs and inspects child safety seats. The spaghetti dinner and open house are two popular annual events, each attracting more than 500 people.
“We are a professional and progressive department that partners with many agencies in the area, with firefighter safety and quality customer service as our top priorities,” said Chief Mygatt. “Our culture is known for producing highly competent, well trained professional firefighters.”
