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2 new Goodyear fire stations to emphasize firefighters’ long-term health

Posted 12/18/19

Goodyear is getting ready to add to its city with two new stations.

The Goodyear City Council approved funding this week for the creation of two new fire stations that will place a heavy emphasis …

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2 new Goodyear fire stations to emphasize firefighters’ long-term health

Posted

Goodyear is getting ready to add to its city with two new fire stations.

The Goodyear City Council approved funding this week for the creation of two new fire stations that will place a heavy emphasis on firefighters’ long-term health and improving response times for the community, according to a release.

“They’re very functional buildings, with a focus on improved response times and ensuring the safety of our firefighters inside the station,”  Goodyear Deputy Fire Chief Tom Cole stated. “Over the last few years, firefighters across the country on average are seeing an increase in cancer diagnoses from the exposures they encounter on fires. So, it’s in everybody’s best interest to help focus efforts on keeping firefighters safe.”

The new stations, 181 and 186, will be designed with more efficient decontamination procedures to ensure the timely removal of any materials that collect on firefighters’ clothes and bodies, the release states.

“The key difference between these new stations and our existing stations is that those actions will be more efficient,” Mr. Cole stated.

Both of the new stations will include the following features:

A decontamination corridor that will allow firefighters to decontaminate their turnout gear as soon as possible upon returning to the station. “The decontamination process will flow from room to room, from the first area where they’re cleaned, to the next area where they’re hung to try, to the final area where they’re stored when they’re not in use,” Mr. Cole said.

A vestibule that separates the “clean” (living) side of the station from the “dirty” (business) side. “Rather than just one door into the station, you’ll see a two-door system with a space to help trap those contaminants, and knock-off carpeting on the ground to knock things off of our footwear, and keep the clean side of the station as clean as possible,” Mr. Cole continued.

A personnel decontamination corridor that will allow firefighters to rid their bodies from contaminants as soon as possible. The corridor will lead firefighters directly to an individual bathroom stall upon their return to the station. “We think it’s certainly the most effective way to get firefighters clean and keep the station as clean as possible,” Mr. Cole stated.

According to the release, the new procedures — which are based on best practices used throughout the country and the input of Goodyear firefighters — are a complement to Goodyear’s new clean cab fire truck system that requires firefighters to store their gear in separate compartments within fire trucks in order to limit exposure to contaminants.

Station 186 will be a 12,587-square-foot facility located on Willis Road just east of Rainbow Valley Road. Construction will begin in March and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2020.

Station 181 will be a 15,855-square-foot facility located on 143rd Avenue between Van Buren Street and Celebrate Life Way, and will replace the decommissioned station currently located there. Construction will begin in April and is scheduled for completion in early 2021.

Along with the enhanced safety procedures, Mr. Cole said Goodyear needs the new fire stations simply to keep up with the massive growth of the city.

“Particularly in the Estrella community, it’s timely to build a station in that part of the city, and Station 181 is being put in optimal position for response times in that part of the city,” he said. “So, this is just forward thinking, it’s using resources effectively, and it’s providing fire and emergency medical resources where the community needs it.”