‘Greatly needed’

Architects sought for new Russellville fire station

Russellville Fire Chief John Cochran stands by two firetrucks that are so close in the cramped fire station that their doors hit each other when opened at the same time. Relief will come in 18 to 24 months when a new central fire station is built in the city. Cochran said last week that he was sending out requests for proposals from architects for the project, expected to cost $6.5 million.
Russellville Fire Chief John Cochran stands by two firetrucks that are so close in the cramped fire station that their doors hit each other when opened at the same time. Relief will come in 18 to 24 months when a new central fire station is built in the city. Cochran said last week that he was sending out requests for proposals from architects for the project, expected to cost $6.5 million.

Chief John Cochran thought the Russellville Central Fire Station was nice when he used the new facility in 1978 as a firefighter.

Today, it doesn’t meet the needs of the city or the firefighters, he said, but a new station is coming to the rescue.

“I’m getting ready to put out an announcement for qualified architectural firms so that our evaluation panel can go through those and select a firm to begin that process,” Cochran said last week.

“The citizens of Russellville last summer voted to extend the city’s 1-cent sales tax for another seven years,” Cochran said. “In that sales-tax revenue, $6.5 million is earmarked for the construction of a new central station.”

The station will be built on half a city block at West B and North El Paso streets.

On that site now is “a one-story office building that was originally built as a doctor’s office that is now leased as a small restaurant, and I believe a photographer shop,” Cochran said. “We’ll have to take the building down. The rest of the lot we bought is a parking lot.”

The current station is 6,000 square feet; the new one will be approximately 18,000 square feet, he said.

“It’s greatly needed,” he said. The current station is not Americans With Disabilities Act compliant, “and we have space problems.”

Cochran said the station was built without any office space, so “makeshift” offices were created.

“It’s pretty tight,” he said.

Cochran said the new station has been a long time coming.

The Russellville Fire Department moved from a 1927 building two doors down to the current station in 1977, he said. It shares a wall with City Hall.

“I watched them build it and was one of the first ones to work in here,” Cochran said. “Compared to what they had, it was great.”

He worked in the Russellville department until 1995, when he left for other job opportunities. He returned in 2007 to take the job as Russellville fire chief.

“When we moved in here, there were three career firefighters on duty for all three shifts, a total of nine, augmented by a volunteer fire chief, one of 18 volunteers,” Cochran said.

Today, the department has 56 uniformed firefighters, including five day staff, who work at the central station. Seventeen firefighters work on each of three shifts.

The new facility will take care of a lot of needs, he said.

“It will allow us to have an improved and larger training facility, classroom facilities and, also, if space will allow and we can afford it, we want to incorporate a drill tower so we can improve and gain credit for fire-insurance purposes,” Cochran said.

The chief said modern firefighting equipment is larger than in the past.

“The new fire station will have larger bay doors, a larger and deeper engine room and will allow for drive-thru bays,” he said.

“We’re all excited; we were very appreciative of the public giving us their support with the sales tax,” Cochran said.

Randy Horton, the fire department’s liaison on the City Council, agreed that the station is overdue.

“It was a thing that Chief Cochran had in his mind many years ago,” Horton said.

The Fire Department applied for a grant about seven years ago but didn’t get it, he said.

“[The project has] come and gone and come and gone, and finally, in our sales-tax election last year, there was plenty of support for it,” Horton said.

The sales tax, approved by voters in 2007, was set to expire in December 2013.

“We really need it,” Horton said of the fire station. “There are problems with the roof; there’s no real training facility in the old central station. It has not affected our ISO (Insurance Services Office) fire rating yet, but it’s always a check mark.

“It was built in the days when we had a volunteer fire department; now we have full-time firefighters, and they live there and have to have a kitchen.

“It’s been nursed a long way, longer than it should have been.”

“The site that we have is in our historic downtown, and it’s going to be built and styled to fit into downtown and complement the other buildings there, so it’s going to be a big plus for downtown. We’re going to try to get double bang for our buck.”

Cochran said being a good community partner is important to the department.

“One thing we’re certain to try to do within the budget is not only build a new central fire station but to maintain our presence in downtown Russellville and also ensure the station is something the public can be proud of as a civic building,” Cochran said.

Horton estimated that the project, from choosing an architect to being completed, will take 18 to 24 months.

The City Council has yet to decide what to do with the current station when it is vacated, he said.

“We’ve still got to have a lot of discussion about that,” Horton said. “We need a permanent home for our Information Systems Department. There’s been some talk about moving around some of our Public Works Department, so that when somebody comes in to bring a new business to town, we’d like for them to make one stop for the permit process.

“It’s almost certain to be repurposed for something, but we have not had formal discussions on what for, and it would take significant remodeling.”

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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