Jeffersontown Fire Station & EMS Groundbreaking

Neighbors, community leaders, Jeffersontown Fire Department representatives, and others gathered to break ground at the site of Jeffersontown, KY's newest fire station on Taylorsville Road. While thanking all involved, Fire Department Chief Sean Dreisbach said (Facebook video link) the new fire station improves response times for the community, while the design, "embraces not only the basic needs and traditions of a fire station (including a fire pole) ... as well as more modern features." He mentioned the inclusion of a decontamination room, a designated space where fire fighters coming back from a run can change out of potentially contaminated equipment and change into clean uniforms.

The 17,500 SF Jeffersontown Fire and EMS Station #4 project is designed as a 24/7, full-time facility including dormitory, community storm shelter, pull-through apparatus bays, and staff administrative areas in a 2-story configuration. Additionally onsite features include a 3-bay garage, general storage building, and full site development.

The Chief thanked GRW for "coming up with this design, giving us a first station we can be very proud of." He described it a fire station that will "blend in with the surrounding community," adding he hopes it will be a community fire station. "We hope you all are as proud of this fire station as we're going to be," he said.

WDRB and WLKY were among the news organizations covering the event.

The project bid in early August; included were multiple general contractors from the Louisville KY area. It resulted in a low bid of $7,350,000 (within less than 1% of the design team's estimate). Construction projects can typically encounter estimating challenges, lately exacerbated because of 2022-related realities like the rising cost of materials, higher wages for skilled workers, and some remaining product shortages, according to numerous reports (e.g. U.S. Chamber of Commerce, RSMeans, Dodge, etc.)

According to GRW Architect Aaron Nickerson, "We've been able to deliver the project to this point with the help and collaboration of the Fire Chief, Jeffersontown Fire Department staff, and many other stake holders. We're excited to see how this project continues to unfold."

For a bird's eye view of the groundbreaking check out this YouTube video 

And here's another fire station designed and completed by GRW.