The cost to address facilities issues at five firehouses and a dispatch center in the Mehlville Fire Protection District may be $4.2 million, while replacement costs may total $6.5 million.

That’s according to a presentation given last week to district residents who attended a meeting of the Fire District Advisory Committee for Tomorrow’s Emergency Services, or FACTS.

The estimates used “rough order magnitude costs,” so that the actual costs could vary, Dwight Dickinson of Dickinson Hussman Architects explained.

The replacement cost of engine houses No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 6 and No. 7 was calculated at $1.3 million each, while estimates for addressing issues in the existing buildings were placed at $1.324 million for the No. 2 house, $757,000 for the No. 3 house, $744,000 for the No. 4 house, $715,000 for the No. 6 house, $665,000 for the No. 7 house and $20,000 for the dispatching center. The estimates include design fees, furnishings and site testing, but do not include third-party construction oversight, according to information provided by the fire protection district.

Of the district’s seven houses, the No. 5 engine house and administrative headquarters on Mueller Road have been renovated and expanded. A dedication ceremony marking the completion of the $3.5 million project was conducted in December 2001. Also, No. 1 engine house at South Lindbergh Boulevard and Lemay Ferry Road will be rebuilt in 2005 on Lemay Ferry across from Mehlville Senior High School because the Missouri Department of Transportation bought the current property to improve the intersection of Lindbergh and Lemay Ferry.

The district also is responsible for the dispatch building, which is only about 15 years old, Dickinson said, “so it doesn’t have nearly the sort of issues to deal with that the much older buildings do.”

Engine house No. 2 is the oldest building, built before 1960 and needs the most attention, Dickinson said.

About 50 residents, firefighters, paramedics, administrators and board members of the Mehlville Fire Protection District learned about the district’s facilities during the July 14 FACTS meeting. FACTS is designed to involve residents in developing recommendations that will provide fire and emergency medical solutions to meet future needs for the entire community. The group will meet two to three times a month until August to study key issues, define the district’s needs and reach consensus on potential solutions.

At the end of the process, participants will present recommendations to the Board of Directors for consideration.

The district also gave tours of the facilities Saturday, July 17, to all interested residents.

At the FACTS meeting, Dickinson and his partner, Don Hussman, presented an overview of the current status and future needs of the district’s facilities.

Dickinson explained that the district firehouses that were built years ago would not meet today’s building codes if they were built today. First, the buildings do not meet today’s seismic codes, he said.

“… And really what we’re saying is, in case of an earthquake event, how would that building stand up structurally?” he said. “In most instances, because of the way that they’re built with low-bearing masonry wall systems, they would be the fastest ones to collapse.”

To strengthen the buildings, Dickinson said a structural steel cage built in the apparatus bay could allow the apparatus itself to operate and be driven out of the building while the rest of the building may collapse.

“But I do want to point out that that does not mitigate the possibility that the entire building in an earthquake event would probably be destroyed and have to be rebuilt anyway,” he said.

He explained what challenges the district deals with on a daily basis and then presented some different solutions for residents to discuss.

Another issue is sprinklers, or the fire suppression system, because this was not required when the old engine houses were built. Fire alarms were not required when the buildings were built either, Dickinson said.

Districtwide building infrastructure issues include roofs; heating, ventilation and air conditioning; electrical, power and lighting; plumbing; windows; technology; and cracked and settling masonry walls in the No. 6 and the No. 7 engine houses.

“Some of you may look at this and some of the other stuff that we talk about tonight as being simple maintenance costs, but unfortunately, as these buildings get older these maintenance costs continue to rise and get more severe,” Dickinson said. “And again on a limited financial budget, such as the district is dealing with right now, it is very difficult to make the major kinds of repairs that many of these buildings require. These issues need to be addressed because as the buildings continue to suffer from these kinds of situations, the deterioration continues to rapidly multiply.”

Building space limitations include engine house No. 2’s day room/training room and apparatus bay; workout rooms; bunkrooms, showers and restrooms that are small and do not meet gender equity standards of today; small laundry rooms that do not fit larger equipment; and storage facilities.

“This is a situation where, as the years go by and more firemen and EMS personnel are needed in these buildings, they were not designed at that time to have that amount of personnel in the buildings,” Dickinson said.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in the early 1990s, also has created issues, such as door hardware, door entries and toilet/shower needs to meet today’s standards.

Over a period of years, different facilities have worn out and need to be replaced, Dickinson added, including concrete and asphalt drives and apparatus bays, exterior doors, overhead doors that “need to operate at a moment’s notice” ; worn-out carpet, vinyl flooring and non-slip concrete topping; and toilet partitions.

Four different options to solve some of the facilities’ problems were presented to residents to generate discussion in the small-group activity:

• Option No. 1 includes replacement of engine house No. 2; renovation of engine houses No. 3, No. 4, No. 6 and No. 7, including concrete and asphalt replacement and repairs, infrastructure, safety, such as the seismic structural frame, and stabilization of the foundation for engine houses No. 6 and No. 7. In addition, the district could build a training tower as well as a confined training complex, which is a series of large pipes used for training exercises, like confined rescues, for a total of $2,823,800.

• Option No. 2 includes replacement of the two oldest engine houses, No. 2 and No. 3, plus addressing the facilities’ issues in engine houses No. 4, No. 6 and No. 7. A training tower and confined training complex also could be built for a total of $3,811,400.

• Option No. 3 includes replacement of engine houses No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4; facilities issues in the No. 6 and the No. 7 houses, the training tower, and a confined training complex for a total of $4,770,100.

• Option No. 4 includes replacement of firehouses No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 7; No. 6 issues of infrastructure, safety, and foundation stabilization; the training tower and confined training complex for a total of $5,805,200.

“These are the options that we’re asking you to take a look at tonight at your tables,” Dickinson said.

During the small-group activity and the discussion later in the meeting, many residents asked about the “gender-equity issues” in the district.

Deputy Chief Steve Mossotti explained that the locker rooms, bathrooms and bunkrooms were all built for community use, and that the district currently deals with the issue by allowing the few women in the EMS to use small bathrooms and medic rooms, partitions and certain clothing to improvise for the lack of modern facilities.

Besides privacy, he said, there are also health concerns that make private bedrooms more desirable.

When asked about funding, Mossotti said, “That’s what you all are supposed to help decide.”

Ideally, he said, a tax-rate increase would allow the district to pay for its needs through the general fund without restrictions to buildings, repairs and upkeep as a bond issue would limit the district. Certificates of participation are another option, Mossotti suggested to the group.