Wanting to Protect Those Who Protect Us
In a Firehouse article, Janet A. Wilmoth discusses the VFIS documentary, Innovating the Industry. The documentary goes over the main intentions behind the design process for the Central Valley Fire Station 1. To execute the plan for the new station located in Belgrade, MT, TCA Architecture + Planning teamed up with Think1 as the design specialist.
Fire Chief Ron Lindroth leads the video by walking through the station’s features, explaining how they aligned with the department’s goal of keeping firefighters’ well-being at the foremost in their minds. The Central Valley Fire District took action to address two ongoing and crucial concerns, firefighters’ health and safety. This includes mental health which pertains to the staggering statistics of PTSD cases and suicide rates among firefighters. With a “crew-first” approach, the department encouraged firefighters to be directly involved in the design process.
“We wanted to create an environment that felt healthy to people and gave them good mental and physical health, so that we in turn could serve the public from a healthy standpoint,” -Chief Ron Lindroth
The 25-minute documentary also walks through many of Station 1’s features and design elements such as the separate building just for decontamination procedures. If you’d like to learn more about the ways public safety buildings are adapting to safety concerns and pandemics, the National Clean Public Safety Building Assembly will hold a virtual program Aug. 5 (12:30-2:30 p.m. EDT)