Press and Media Coverage
Boulder Rural Fire to get new home in Gunbarrel
Site will reduce response times, improve safety, district says
By Erica Meltzer Camera Staff Writer
Posted: 02/12/2010 08:03:18 PM MST
Later this month, the Boulder Rural Fire Protection District will take possession of an empty industrial space in Gunbarrel that, once remodeled, will reduce response times, improve safety for firefighters and the public and save money, the district's chief said.
"It's a real opportunity at a very opportune time for us," Fire Chief Bruce Mygatt said.
The $2.3 million purchase, expected to close Feb. 22, has been years in the making.
The fire district, which serves a 25-square-mile area surrounding the city of Boulder, has been in its location at 5075 Jay Road for 22 years. Maintenance and utility costs on the 7,500-square-foot reconditioned agricultural barn have soared, Mygatt said, and zoning restrictions mean the district cannot expand at the current site.
The location, at the intersection of the Diagonal Highway and Jay Road, also poses safety hazards, with firefighters pulling out into busy traffic with little warning.
Voters approved a mill levy increase in 2006 that included paying for a new fire station for the district.
But as officials starting looking for a location, they found that almost every suitable location along a major route in the rural and semi-rural areas they serve was designated as open space. Officials tried to find land they could swap with the open space department, but nothing ever worked out.
Then officials found the 18,000-square-foot building in the Gunbarrel Office Park. The building had been nearly vacant for five years.
It will take roughly a year and between $1.7 million and $2.3 million to remodel the space to accommodate the fire department. That brings the total cost for the new fire station to between $4 million and $4.5 million, compared with the $5 million to $6 million it would have cost to buy land and build a new station.
Mygatt said the building also will be ready much more quickly than if the department had built new.
"This really wouldn't have been possible in different economic circumstances," Mygatt said.
The district also negotiated a Build America Bond loan, which provides credit back to the district on its interest payments for the jobs the project creates.
The space will allow the department to store all its vehicles and equipment indoors and have adequate living and sleeping quarters, as well as space for classes, exercise and simulated emergency training.
Mygatt said the facility should meet the district's needs for the next 50 years and can be shared by other agencies.
"This will be a multi-agency, multi-use public safety facility," he said.
The move 2.5 miles northeast to 6230 Lookout Road also puts the district's headquarters in the heart of its service area of Gunbarrel and Heatherwood. That should reduce response times by several minutes, Mygatt said.
The district plans to sell or lease its current facility to another emergency agency.
Contact reporter Erica Meltzer at 303-473-1355 or meltzere@dailycamera.com.