A photo tour of the new Fire Station 38

February 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The new Fire Station 38 (4004 NE 55th Street) is nearly ready. In my last email with Helen Fitzpatrick, spokeswoman of the Seattle Fire Department, a tentative move-in date in early February was given.

And once the firefighters move in and get settled, there will be an OPEN HOUSE.

Before doing a little grocery shopping across the street on Sunday, a took a few pictures of the station’s exterior and interior.

Starting on the south side of the station: Two bays for fire department vehicles (Engine 38 +1), the doors of which face NE 55th Street.

View straight up from ground level of the red corrugated metal siding on the south side of the station.

View inside the doors. I believe I can safely say, though I did not have my tape measure with me, that the old Station 38 could fit inside the new station’s vehicle bay.

The “front door” of the new station, at the southwest corner. There is a doorbell, and the red box conceals a telephone. This entry can be reached via stairs (railing visible) or by a ramp (to the right, out of the frame of the picture).

The flag pole near the entrance is already sporting an American flag.

On the west side of the station now (the 40th Avenue NE side). Looks as though the plants adjacent to the station are watered by rain collected from the roof and west side of the building.

Close up of the gutter at the base of the wall (catches water running down the side of the building) and the pipe (bringing runoff down from the roof) which both empty into a V-shaped cement structure (which allows the water to seep into the surrounding soil).

Oregon grape planted in the NE 4oth Avenue parking strip seems happy to be here.

North side of the station. It looks as though Engine 38 can come back from a call and drive straight into the station, no blocking traffic on NE 55th Street to back in.

This concludes our tour! Stay tuned to the Ravenna Blog for more information on Fire Station 38 (old and new).

The tricked-out grill of Engine 38 thanks you for your time.

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A little new Fire Station 38 background:

Seattle P-I reporter Casey McNerthney did a story on the ground breaking and the impetus of the new station back in September 2009 (“Chief, mayor break ground for new fire station“).

And the fate of little old Station 38 (5503 33rd Avenue NE), once it’s empty? The city is expected to sell it. For how much? Well, McNerthney’s article states that the property was appraised at just over a million dollars*, according to King County property records in 2009. Save your pennies!

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*I think this figure dashes any plans that former Ravenna resident now Camano Island blogger Jeff and I had for buying the old firehouse and turning it into a little neigborhood pub called the Ravenna Hole.

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

NE Library Firefighter Story Time: When you gotta go, you gotta go

October 6, 2010 by 5 Comments

Front grill of Engine 38 - THAT'S HOT

Firefighter Story Time at the Northeast Library (6801 35th Ave NE) yesterday had everything you’d ever want in a Firefighter Story Time: Lots of firefighters (one of which was in his FULL GEAR), a HUGE crowd of enthusiastic listeners, a good story highlighting fire safety, and ACTION.

Lieutenant Milton, Firefighter/Storyteller

The crew of Engine 38 treated a crowd of over 200 parents and kids to a reading of No Dragons for Tea: Fire Safety for Kids (and Dragons) by Jean E. Pendziwol.  But before he got too far into the story, Lieutenant Milton did warn the crowd about his pager:

If this thing goes ‘BEEP BEEP,’ we have to go.

We all laughed.

With so many eager listeners in the crowd, Lt. Milton had the rest of the crew spread out through the space with extra copies of the book so that everyone could see the pictures.

Firefighters Lt. Milton and John Paul Jones

Firefighter Becky Mathews turns the page.

Firefighter Dyer, not part of Engine 38's crew that day, was also on hand to help.

After the story, Firefighter Chris Hassel showed off his full firefighting ensemble.

Flash photography is NOT helping us out here, but still looks pretty cool. (Hassel on left, Lt. Milton on right)

A now helmeted and masked Hassel shows the crowd his position relative to a smoke-filled room.

At this point, the crew of Engine 30 headed outside to ready the truck for inspection.

Priority parking behind the library

Fire engine 38's cab section

One of many storage areas on the engine, opened up to reveal the equipment inside.

Doors to the engine’s cab were opened, and a multitude of storage areas were revealed all over the exterior of the engine.  Kids and parents filed out of the library and surrounded the engine and her crew.

Then Lt. Milton started to talk about the differences between fire engines and fire trucks, and how this engine hooks herself up to a hydrant,

This engine carries its own 500 gallons of water all the time! Neat!

and then we heard:

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Lt. Milton looks at his pager, says, “‘Motor vehicle accident.'” Pause. “We gotta go.”

“AWWWWWWW…” said the crowd.  What a bummer. But duty calls! What are you gonna do?!

The crew of Engine 38 rapidly closed up all the compartments and hopped in the cab as the crowd backed away to make room for the engine to head out.

Here’s a video of their all-too-soon departure:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7uxuTD-zT0&feature=player_embedded

I think the engine sounded really sad about leaving, don’t you?

But take heart, citizens of Northeast Seattle! There’s another opportunity to see a fire engine up close just this next week, as Firefighter Story Time heads to the Green Lake Library (7364 E Green Lake Dr N) on Wednesday, October 13 from 11:15-11:45am.

You can find the full schedule of Firefighter Story Times here, at the Seattle Fire Department Event Calendar page.

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EXTRA FIRE DEPARTMENT-RELATED TIDBIT: The NEW Fire Station 38 (across the street from the Sand Point Metropolitan Market) should be wrapping up construction around the end of December 2010. Stay tuned for open house dates, and information on how YOU could own the OLD Fire Station 38.

Filed Under: 911, Families, Kids, Northeast Branch, Northeast Seattle, Photos, Seattle Fire Department, Story Times, Video Tagged With: , , , ,