The Tantalus Fire Hall will be getting some much-needed attention in the coming year.
“It is all about making sure the building performs under the proper loading in a seismic event,” said Matt Simmons, the district’s capital projects manager, in a presentation to council at a committee of the whole meeting last month.
The 2016 capital project budget included almost $2 million for structural seismic upgrades to Fire Hall No. 2 on Tantalus Road.
About $220,000 has been spent to date, according to District staff.
The District of Squamish has gone out to tender to upgrade the apparatus bay – where the fire trucks are parked – and for a new hose tower and some urgent repairs to the administration portion of the building.
“Seems like a no-brainer,” Coun. Karen Elliott told the committee regarding proceeding with the needed repairs.
Several seismic upgrades were completed last year including high-risk items such as the repairs to the gear turndown-room, as well as repairs to the beams and door.
The extensive current needs of the fire hall are just one example of the result of years of making do with limited resources in the municipality, Simmons said.
At about this time last year, Herold Engineering was commissioned for the design work on the repairs to the circa 1978 building.
The Tantalus Fire Hall was the police station during the 1980s and ’90s and there were complaints of sewer gas smells, which were a result of plumbing from the former jail cells that had never been decommissioned, according to Simmons.
“We tore out all this plumbing immediately,” he said.
Even with the 2016 repairs, experts say the building is operating at 30 per cent of what it is designed for, Simmons said.
“We have taken care of some of the highest consequence, highest risks, but there is still more work to be done.”
There is a $150,000 request in the 2017 budget for roof repairs on the hall.
In addition to further structural work, the fire hall is still in need of electrical, mechanical and roof repairs, among others.
Updates also need to take into account the growing needs of the community, Simmons said, and account for a changing fire department with things like adequate male and female change rooms and washrooms.
Coun. Susan Chapelle said the upgrades will work for the foreseeable future, but long term an option could be to put affordable housing above the fire hall, as has been done in Vancouver, to help pay for future upgrades and keep pace with the needs of the hall as Squamish’s population doubles in the coming years.
“We are going to need more firefighters, more beds, more accessibility,” she said. “We have to start funding things and we have to start looking at community partnerships to start building a different building that is adequate for long term.”
