DeLand's new Fire Station 81 focuses on health, safety and training for firefighters

DELAND — Fire Station 81 at 343 W. Howry Ave. has a vintage look to it, but it's anything but old.

The $5.5 million, 16,000-square-foot facility was designed with the future in mind.

"We're very excited about the amount of opportunity this station is going to provide us compared to where we're at now," fire Chief Todd Allen said Thursday morning during a media tour of the new station.

Final touches, such as cleaning and moving furniture into place, were in the works Thursday morning as officials were preparing to unveil the 2-story facility to the public during an open house Saturday.

The original Fire Station 81, located a block east of the new one, was designed in the late 1960s as a volunteer station. It will eventually be demolished and turned into a public parking lot.

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The health and safety of the firefighters, particularly in the way of cancer prevention, was key in the design of the new station, which should serve the community for the next 50 to 100 years.

Cancer is the leading cause of death among firefighters, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Compared to the general public, firefighters have a 9% increase in cancer diagnoses and a 14% increase in cancer-related deaths, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

"We have an area that the firefighters can decontaminate in right away, get back into clean gear and be ready to respond back to the next call," Allen said.

A negative-pressure ventilation system and a diesel-exhaust removal system will reduce firefighters' exposure to diesel emissions and other cancer-causing contaminants.

The new station also features a functional fire pole and built-in training props, such as the stairwell tower that allows for high-rise training among other opportunities.

There's also a medical evaluation room since fire stations have a number of walk-ins, Allen said.

The station is expected to have fully-staffed advanced life-support capabilities on all units by the year's end.

The new station accounts for more women working as firefighters with separate sleeping and restroom quarters.

There's a lounge, and a connected kitchen with three separate refrigerators and pantries, one for each shift.

There are meeting and community rooms, a fitness room, and the fire marshal and fire prevention officers will be able to move out of City Hall.

"We’ve always felt a little bit of disconnect," Allen said. "Having them all under one roof in the same hallway with administration, it's going to be way better for our firefighters and the fire department."

Eventually, a reserve garage will be built behind the station to store the city's well-known antique truck, among other vehicles and materials.

The landscaping around the new facility includes a sapling from the 9/11 Survivor Tree, a Callery pear.

Also newly completed, just a couple of blocks away, is the new police evidence building.

The new facility, which is hurricane-safe and meets all secure evidence storage standards, has a "long-term storage area for evidence required to be held by law for up to 100 years and an updated lab for processing forensic evidence," Ava Hanner, public safety spokeswoman, said in a news release.

The new building also has a garage area for processing and storage of vehicles submitted as evidence.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New DeLand Fire Station 81 focuses on health, safety of firefighters