Two years ago, Germantown was home to 86,000 residents and one fire station. That second number tripled Saturday with the debut of Milestone Fire and Rescue Station No. 34 at 20633 Boland Farm Road, the second new fire station to be built in Germantown in as many years. Kingsview Fire Station No. 22 at 18910 Germantown Road, the first new fire station in the county in more than 25 years, opened in March 2009. Milestone is already the second-busiest fire station in the county, County Councilman Michael J. Knapp said Saturday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
"It's fabulous," Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown said Monday. "When I got here [on the Council] eight years ago we had one in the middle of town and that's all."
Construction began in September 2009 on the $16 million, single-story building, which was designed to the U.S. Green Building Council's silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. It has natural lighting, systems to reduce energy use and is built of regional, recycled and reused construction materials. The 22,000-square-foot station includes four drive-through apparatus bays, a community meeting room, administrative offices, a decontamination area, shop and storage areas for the county Urban Search and Rescue Team, sleeping accommodations for 20 staff and a training room that can hold 50 people. The station serves 12.7 square miles that include the Milestone, Neelsville, Fox Chapel and Middlebrook neighborhoods as well as Ridge Road Recreational Park.
"This will translate into lives saved," Fire Chief Richard Bowers said Saturday. "The importance of this fire station extends far beyond this structure." SOURCE: Gazette
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