Boyceville selects square footage for new fire station

By LeAnn R. Ralph

BOYCEVILLE — Members of the Boyceville Community Fire District Board have settled on square footage for the proposed new firehall of approximately 12,500 square feet.

The fire district’s five-year planning committee met at 6 p.m. September 13, prior to the fire district meeting at 7 p.m., to discuss the options for square footage.

The total square footage initially proposed by Five Bugles Design was 14,400.

At the April fire board meeting, representatives for Five Bugles Design presented schematic designs for the new fire hall at a cost of $2.3 million and $3.08 million.

The estimated cost of a 12,245 square-foot brick and block building was $3,078,160.

The estimated cost of a 12,245 square-foot metal building was $2,292,221.

The fire board set a budget of $1 million for a new fire station in May.

At the August meeting, fire board members learned from Dave Cihasky of Five Bugles Design that $1 million would build a 6,700 square-foot apparatus bay for the Boyceville fire department that would not include a meeting room, offices or a hose-drying tower.

At the September 13 five-year-planning meeting, committee members, along with Brian Marlette, fire chief, decided that five total apparatus bays would be sufficient, with one apparatus bay (instead of two) being built for future equipment acquisitions.

The extra apparatus bay could be enclosed now but not completely finished off inside and could be used for cold storage, they said.

Committee members agreed the meeting area, which would cover approximately 2,300 square feet, should be included in the new fire station, as well as an area that could be used in the future to house full-time firefighters if and when such a time arrives volunteer firefighters are no longer available during the day.

The housing area for full-time firefighters would cover about 300 square feet and could be built and closed in, with utilities stubbed, but not finished off right now. If sleeping quarters are needed for full-time firefighters in the future, that section of the building could be finished then.

The finished portions of the fire station are estimated to cost between $100 and $125 per square foot. A post-frame building would cost $20 per square foot for the shell and roof, and a pre-engineered steel building would cost about $30 per square foot for the shell and the roof.

Considering the square footage suggested by the five-year planning committee, the new fire station could cost somewhere around $1.3 million.

The exact cost will not be known until bids have been accepted for the new fire station.

The five-year planning committee also discussed consulting with Focus on Energy so the fire station could be built energy efficient.

Focus on Energy would be an intermediate step that would come after the design so the fire station could be “bid out with standards,” said Rich Monn, representative for the Town of Stanton and chair of the five-year planning committee.

The new fire station also is expected to have in-floor heat.

In-floor heat would be beneficial because it would help dry the equipment and would extend the life of the equipment, Monn noted.

At the fire district meeting, board members agreed with the recommendations from the five-year planning committee to proceed with drawings of the building.

Monn said he would sit down with Darlene Lee, clerk for the fire district, to draft a letter to Five Bugles Design.