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Emergency services site progresses
20 December 2011 No Comment
BY MORGAN YOUNG; Staff writer
Framing is up and construction continues on the new Shippensburg Area Emergency Services Building on Walnut Bottom Road, where a new station for Vigilant Hose Company and Shippensburg Area EMS will be housed.
Features will include a training area, a study room for service volunteers attending school, and a services museum where the department’s recently restored 500-pound station bell will be housed.
Shawn Hartsock, EMS director of operations, said the 30,000-square-foot building isn’t just intended to benefit the two emergency agencies.
“The goal was to have (the building) be accessible to the community. We tried to think of everything,” Hartsock said. “I bet we spent almost three years in the development stages.”
Officials hope to use the new space not only for daily operations but also to expand its community training programs and education outreach. They looked at several emergency service facilities to help them plan the design for the former site of University Lodge hotel, including the Hampton Township Fire and Rescue Department station.
“We asked them what would you do different,” Kevin Nehf, Vigilant Hose Company vice president, said. “We’re not just building for today. We only want to build it once.”
Five bays for each agency will be included in the $6.3 million facility, a welcome feature for Shippensburg EMS, which now stores its five ambulances and three emergency vehicles outdoors.
“Our vehicles take a beating,” Hartsock said. “We pay $600 a month in electric (costs) just on the heating system and the shoreline on the units. The ambulances are diesel, so they have to be warmed up. So if it’s 20 below, you (might get) a 20-below ambulance to pick up mom.”
Each of the bays in the new facility will be heated. The extra office and common space will be another welcome addition for the agency, because its building was formerly a small gym underneath some rental properties renovated to fit its needs. Nine officers use one room as their office. Most of the second floor of the new facility will house area EMS, with individual offices for personnel.
Some of the station’s storage areas are also accessible to the building’s other tenants, which Hartsock said can represent a security issue. In addition to providing more space, the new station will be more accessible, with the bays giving EMS vehicles access to Orange Street.
A gym, laundry room and several bunk areas are also features of the building.
Student volunteers would be given an opportunity to live in the individual bunk rooms if they sign a contract, promising to keeping their grades up, Nehf said. EMS personnel aren’t the only ones excited about the extra space.The fire department has had to deal with inadequate space for about two decades, Nehf said.
“No one can do anything to (help the community) in the station we have now,” Nehf said.
Builders for the project are pursuing a Silver LEED certification to verify that the building was designed with the health of the community members and environment in mind.
Environmentally friendly features include a 10,000gallon rainwater collection system that will be used for training purposes and to wash vehicles; high-efficiency HVAC systems; LED lighting with occupancy sensors; and local materials will be installed in the building, helping to reduce costs.
“Operating this station will be cheaper than operating the one we have now,” Nehf said.
Grants and gifts to a capital campaign will pay the balance of $6 million in financing that F&M Trust will provide for the project. Construction is scheduled to be finished about May. Several business and the building contractors have already pledged contributions.
Hartstock said the departments are planning to start focusing on community contributions.
—— Morgan Young can be reached at myoung@shipnewsnow.com and 262-4753, or follow her on Twitter
Crews from Brechbill and Helman build the new Vigiland Hose Company No. 1 and Shippensburg Area EMS building Monday off Walnut Bottom Road, Shippensburg. (Public Opinion, Markell DeLoatch)
Framing is up and construction continues on the new Shippensburg Area Emergency Services Building on Walnut Bottom Road, where a new station for Vigilant Hose Company and Shippensburg Area EMS will be housed.
Features will include a training area, a study room for service volunteers attending school, and a services museum where the department’s recently restored 500-pound station bell will be housed.
Shawn Hartsock, EMS director of operations, said the 30,000-square-foot building isn’t just intended to benefit the two emergency agencies.
“The goal was to have (the building) be accessible to the community. We tried to think of everything,” Hartsock said. “I bet we spent almost three years in the development stages.”
Officials hope to use the new space not only for daily operations but also to expand its community training programs and education outreach. They looked at several emergency service facilities to help them plan the design for the former site of University Lodge hotel, including the Hampton Township Fire and Rescue Department station.
“We asked them what would you do different,” Kevin Nehf, Vigilant Hose Company vice president, said. “We’re not just building for today. We only want to build it once.”
Five bays for each agency will be included in the $6.3 million facility, a welcome feature for Shippensburg EMS, which now stores its five ambulances and three emergency vehicles outdoors.
“Our vehicles take a beating,” Hartsock said. “We pay $600 a month in electric (costs) just on the heating system and the shoreline on the units. The ambulances are diesel, so they have to be warmed up. So if it’s 20 below, you (might get) a 20-below ambulance to pick up mom.”
Each of the bays in the new facility will be heated. The extra office and common space will be another welcome addition for the agency, because its building was formerly a small gym underneath some rental properties renovated to fit its needs. Nine officers use one room as their office. Most of the second floor of the new facility will house area EMS, with individual offices for personnel.
Some of the station’s storage areas are also accessible to the building’s other tenants, which Hartsock said can represent a security issue. In addition to providing more space, the new station will be more accessible, with the bays giving EMS vehicles access to Orange Street.
A gym, laundry room and several bunk areas are also features of the building.
Student volunteers would be given an opportunity to live in the individual bunk rooms if they sign a contract, promising to keeping their grades up, Nehf said. EMS personnel aren’t the only ones excited about the extra space.The fire department has had to deal with inadequate space for about two decades, Nehf said.
“No one can do anything to (help the community) in the station we have now,” Nehf said.
Builders for the project are pursuing a Silver LEED certification to verify that the building was designed with the health of the community members and environment in mind.
Environmentally friendly features include a 10,000gallon rainwater collection system that will be used for training purposes and to wash vehicles; high-efficiency HVAC systems; LED lighting with occupancy sensors; and local materials will be installed in the building, helping to reduce costs.
“Operating this station will be cheaper than operating the one we have now,” Nehf said.
Grants and gifts to a capital campaign will pay the balance of $6 million in financing that F&M Trust will provide for the project. Construction is scheduled to be finished about May. Several business and the building contractors have already pledged contributions.
Hartstock said the departments are planning to start focusing on community contributions.
—— Morgan Young can be reached at myoung@shipnewsnow.com and 262-4753, or follow her on Twitter
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