Hyattsville
Fire/EMS Station & Red Cross
Joint Facility
Project History
In a true partnership, the American Red Cross has agreed
to deed its land to the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department (HVFD) with Prince
George’s County providing funding for the new combined public safety facility.
Funds for the
initial scope of the project and design/construction plans were approved in the
FY2012 Prince George’s County budget with full construction funded in
FY2014-FY2016.
The
Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission's Approved Public Safety
Facilities Master Plan, published in 2008, calls for the replacement of the
existing station with a new facility shared by the Hyattsville VFD and the
American Red Cross.
The location of the Hyattsville firehouse, at Belcrest
and Queens Chapel Road, has been identified as the most ideal for fire, rescue
and EMS response to our community and keeping the facility at its present
location was of key importance.
The project
would not have been possible without the significant support from Prince
George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, the Prince George’s County Council –
led by Hyattsville District’s Will Campos,, Prince George’s County Fire/EMS
Department Chief Marc Bashoor, City of Hyattsville Mayor Marc Tartaro and
former Mayor Bill Gardiner and the leadership of the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire
Department and American Red Cross – National Capital Region and National
headquarters.
Site History
The current
Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department’s station at 6200 Belcrest Road was built
in 1958 as a sub-station to the then-main Farragut street firehouse. It was
intended only as an emergency apparatus storage facility. When the Farragut
Street station closed in 1969, the Belcrest Road site became the main firehouse
for the community of Hyattsville.
In 1988, the
station was expanded to include an additional apparatus bay for the 100-foot
aerial tiller truck as well as expanded office space and the day room.
The
Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department has actively been seeking a replacement
station to replace the current outdated facility actively since 1998.
New Red Cross Facility
The new public safety facility will serve as the Prince
George’s County headquarters for the American Red Cross – National Capital
Region.
The building will include a Visitor’s Center for local
clients and customers to learn more and interact with Red Cross staff, space
for up to five paid and volunteer staff crossing multiple disciplines including
the Community Executive, Disaster Program Specialist and Health and Safety
Specialists.
In addition to the many uses of the training and
multi-purpose room (described below), including a regional disaster operations
center, the facility will also serve as a staging area to push resources to
disaster sites and as a center for disaster supply and response vehicle
storage.
The Red Cross will have its own entrance along Queens
Chapel Road with dedicated parking, including room for their primary disaster
response units.
Joint Training and Multi-Purpose Room
The joint training and multi-purpose room in the facility
will be utilized by all of the partners. The room will be state-of-the-art with
capacity for ongoing disaster operations.
The Red
Cross will provide First Aid, CPR and AED training, Functional Disaster
courses, Babysitting and Caregiver courses; Utilize the room for local and
regional organizational meetings for volunteer leadership to plan programs and
services; and it will serve as a Disaster Operations Center for major and minor
incidents that occur in Prince George’s County and nearby jurisdictions.
The Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department and Prince
George’s County Fire/EMS Department will utilize the space to host
numerous meetings and classes, including EMT-B, Firefighting and Fire Officer
classes, CPR, Emergency Vehicle Operations and beyond.
The space will also be made available to our community
response partners for their use including the City of Hyattsville Police
Department, Prince George’s County Police and CERT.
State-of-the-Art
Fire/EMS Station
The combined facility is 24,988 square feet including
4,353 square feet dedicated to the American Red Cross and nearly 8,000 square
feet of emergency apparatus bay space, gear and equipment storage. The combined
facility replaces the current 9,000 SF firehouse and 22,000 SF American Red
Cross building.
The ground level Red Cross facility includes 1,041 square
feet of shared meeting, training and multi-purpose room on the lower level
which will also serve as a regional disaster management facility if needed.
The Fire Department space
will be on two levels. The first floor will include four large apparatus bays
with supporting rooms for gear and equipment, a watch desk area, offices, day
room, dining area and kitchen. The second floor features separate male and
female quarters for live-in members, male and female sleeping quarters for
local members on duty for response, shower and toilet facilities and a laundry
room, a study room (for our college students and other members who need dedicated
areas to study), a physical training (fitness room) to be shared with the
Hyattsville police officers and the administrative and operational officers of
the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department including two offices and a
conference room.
Special care and attention by the design team, the HVFD
and PGFD went into the design and space planning of this facility. All interior
spaces are ideally located in the new building for firefighters and EMS
personnel to quickly access emergency vehicles each time the new station is
alerted to provide fast response times to calls for help in the
community.
The design and construction of the new facility is
intended to be "a green building" by selecting low energy use
lighting, low energy use HVAC units, and added exterior wall and attic
insulation to reduce energy consumption.
The exterior of the proposed new facility was specially
designed to have a residential look with specific features indigenous,
sensitive, compatible, and consistent with the existing residential-like
Hyattsville neighbor community using gabled shingle roofs, residential sized
reddish-color brick, residential windows, covered porches, large roof
overhangs, decorative but supporting cottage style roof brackets, cottage style
columns, and more.
Construction
Timeline
Fall/Winter
2013: temporary apparatus bays for the HVFD to be built in the current Red
Cross parking lot. The Red Cross building will have modest adjustments made to
serve as temporary living quarters for the HVFD.
Spring/Summer
2014: The HVFD moves into the temporary quarters and construction begins on the
new joint public safety facility.
2016:
Construction is expected to be completed, taking 18-24 months. Following
completion of the new building, the HVFD and Red Cross will move into the
facility. The current Red Cross/temporary quarters will be demolished for
parking space.
The project
will include dedicated space for community art.
The temporary
bays and other temporary quarters components will repurposed by the Prince
George’s County Fire/EMS Department.
Key Fire
Department Stats
On average, 70 active volunteer fire, rescue and EMS
responders operate out of the station including up to 18 live-in members, many
of whom are college students. Volunteers handle over 70% of all emergency
responses including all calls after 3pm weekdays, overnight, weekends and
holidays.
The Prince
George’s County Fire/EMS Department provides six career firefighter/EMTs during
weekday business hours, 7am-3p, to provide staffing when our dedicated
volunteers are typically at work or school.
The
Hyattsville VFD operates an engine company, heavy duty rescue squad, 100’
ladder truck and two basic life support ambulances (one of which upgrades to
respond as Paramedic Ambulance when staffing permits). The new
station will have room to grow for additions to its EMS and fire/rescue fleet
in the future.
The station
responds to some 6,000 emergency and non-emergency incidents annually, an
increase of nearly 50% over the last 15 years – led by more demand for
emergency medical services as the community grows.
The Hyattsville VFD has been continually serving the
community since 1888. Its first due response area includes the City of
Hyattsville and Town of University Park and Chillum Road/Queens Chapel area.
The full first alarm response area includes all or parts of Chillum, Adelphi,
Langley Park, Riverdale, College Park, Brentwood, Mount Rainier, Bladensburg,
New Carrollton and most of Takoma Park in Montgomery County.
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