Main St. firehouse next on list for renovation, rebuild

Published 10:56 am Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Downtown may see a new fire house in the works soon, now that Danville City Commission has chosen a firm to work with on a renovation — or maybe even a rebuild.

“The purpose of the architect is to evaluate the building, figure out our needs and if it needs renovation or a rebuild,” said Fire Chief Ken Pflug. 

Monday, the commission approved the proposal from Bravura Architects to start the hefty project, first with an evaluation of Danville’s Central Fire Station on Main Street. City Engineer Earl Coffee said the station is the next facility in the facility plan to review and prepare renovations.

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The city received proposals from Bravura Architects, Brandstetter Carroll, Inc., Echelon Design Group and Fitzsimmons Office of Architecture — all firms which have worked in the city before, according to Coffey. Bravura Architects was the highest ranking architect for the project, he said.

“It’s been on the books for quite a while to be remodeled over the years,” Chief Pflug said. “The original city hall, our fire station and the south end fire station — now the dispatch center — were all built in the mid ‘60s. It’s always been in the plans to have them updated.” 

Pflug said the infrastructure that’s needed to run a business safely today wasn’t required back then. “In five years, our runs have tripled. We had 1,760 runs last year,” Pflug said. 

The current station has some issues with the electrical wiring being older, the heating and air conditioner being older … “It’s been remodeled and changed over the years many times,” he said. 

The cost for the project is to be determined after the scope of work needed is assessed — something that will be discussed at the next city commission meeting, Coffee said. 

“The firm will come up with options for the city commission to decide upon. This is the very first thing we’ve done — release the qualifications for the architect,” Pflug said. He said the firm will probably start working on the evaluation as soon as next week. 

“It’s a huge project. We have to figure out what the cost is, funding, estimates, all aspects first before jumping in,” Pflug said. 

“We’re looking forward to having a chance to talk to them and look at the station more closely so we know what we need — not want, but need,” Pflug said. “How e can build not for today, but for 30 or 50 years from now, for the future.” 

Until the evaluation is returned and the scope of work determined, city commissioners have been encouraged to meet with Pflug and walk through the building.