New Fire Station Information

The voters approved the new Public Safety Center on April 23rd, 2019, with 63.2% approval. The new fire station will improve response times and other operational efficiencies. The District had purchased 6 acres on US2 just east of Sultan Basin Road in 2004, The design phase was started in late 2017, the District hired Lawhead Architects P.S. to design and engineer the new facility. The Fire District awarded the construction contract to TRICO Companies in June 2020 to construct the new Public Safety Center. The new fire station will take approximately 12 months to complete, with an expected completion date in May 2021.

The new fire station will have 4 apparatus bays, 3 are double deep which allows us to have additional apparatus behind the first out vehicles. The new fire station will provide dorms and showers for our first responders. Also, the facility will have a large meeting/training room for department and public gatherings. This room has been designed to host the local Emergency Operation Center (EOC). During a local emergency such as a major flood, windstorm, railroad or highway incident, or dam failure this room will serve the communities public/private response agencies as a command post. Currently, all the public facilities City, Police, School are in the flood or inundation zone and may not be available. The Fire Department has had to move quickly out of its current fire station during annual flooding events in the past 30 years.

The current fire station has no sleeping quarters or shower/decontamination facilities for our first responders. Our nighttime staff are required to sleep in a leased building and run over to the fire station located at 304 Alder street to respond to emergency calls. Also, the current station (built-in 1979) has only five apparatus bays. As the fire district has grown, additional apparatus (fire engines, ambulances, rescue trucks, and other support/utility vehicles) have been acquired. During a recent flood event, our personnel needed BR51 (a former military 6X6 truck) to assist in possible water rescue operations. This vehicle and others are stored undercover approximately a half-mile away from our current fire station. The new Public Safety Center will accommodate most of our current emergency response vehicles with our on-duty staff. It will also house our administration office located at 33021 Cascade View Drive, which is located more than a mile East of our current fire station. The new Public Safety Center will place the administrative staff and our operational personnel in one building allowing the fire chief to have direct supervision and oversite over all district employee.

09-16-2020 - Wednesday
This is the latest update video on the progression of the fire station.
07-15-2020 - Wednesday
After 6 weeks the project is moving along. We had a few weeks of wet weather that slowed progress a bit but we are still on schedule to complete the project in late April or May of next Year. After the footing are poured goes the stemwalls. they will then be working on all the underground plumbing and electrical. We feel the concrete floors will be poured in the next few weeks.
06-22-2020 - Monday
TRICO Companies LLC of Burlington WA began construction of our new Fire Station 51 on June 2nd. TRICO’s Project Manager Roger Kee expects the project to take 10 months with a completion in April 2021. Under the Governors Covid Guidance the new fire station is deemed an essential building project but still requires a Covid exposure control, mitigation and recovery plan. TRICO has prepared a 12 page plan detailing how employees and visitors will be kept safe from exposure to COVID19 which was shared with Fire Chief Halverson. Project Manager Kee stated “TRICO takes the health and safety of our employees very seriously”. He added that visitors are limited to those necessary to complete work on the station. The new fire station will replace the current station at 304 Alder Street, built in 1978 when all of Sultan’s firefighters were volunteers. They responded from their homes to the fire station and then to 911 emergency calls. In those days only fire apparatus stayed at the firehouse. The new Public Safety Center will allow our firefighters to be housed in the same building as our fire engines and ambulances, allowing a quicker and safer response. Resilience and reliability will be greatly improved. The new facility will be out of the flood zone so that firefighters and equipment will no longer need to evacuate the station during floods. The new station will meet and exceed modern seismic, wind shear, and snow load standards keeping firefighters safe and available during natural disasters. Ultimately a helicopter landing facility will be added to the site allowing emergency evacuation of the sick and injured and delivery of supplies if the District becomes isolated by disasters. Relocating the fire station out of the flood zone was imperative and the top priority in the District’s Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). Also identified in the district’s HMP as a high priority, was the need for a facility where community leaders assemble during emergencies, generally referred to as the Emergency Operation Center (EOC). Much public infrastructure of the city, school, and law enforcement is in the flood plain or inundation zones. Community leaders recognized that a resilient EOC secure from flooding would need to be located in the new fire station. Together, leadership from the City, School District, Sheriff’s Office and Fire District acquired a $1.5 million Washington State Capital Improvements Grant. The grant enabled the Fire District to design into the new station an EOC, which will double as a department training room and public meeting room allowing the District to expand public education programs.

Groundbreaking Ceremony
Due to the current pandemic the district out of caution canceled it’s planned “ground breaking ceremony”. In lieu of a “ground breaking” ceremony we asked several people that have been instrumental in making the new station a reality, to share a few words to celebrate this important moment.

Steve Fox, Fire Commissioner and former volunteer firefighter. “It’s exciting to see the new Public Safety Center finally under construction. District 5’s commitment ever since purchasing the land in 2004 has been to better serve our citizens through a critical investment in this infrastructure. We appreciate the unwavering support for such an important community goal from so many stakeholders, including the City of Sultan, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Sultan School District, and others. Broad, multi-level support is what enabled our State Representative Carolyn Eslick to secure state funding for a portion of the project as a benefit to all. Be sure to check in regularly and watch the future being built!”

Carolyn Eslick, State Representative LD 39th, “In this world of confusion we find ourselves searching for ways we can improve our futures and increase our capacity to control our own lives. One way is to build community and have a place to gather during celebration and during emergencies. I have supported this project from the beginning and was honored to be able to help with funding from the State level.” Steve Fox, Fire Commissioner and former volunteer firefighter. “It’s exciting to see the new Public Safety Center finally under construction. District 5’s commitment ever since purchasing the land in 2004 has been to better serve our citizens through a critical investment in this infrastructure. We appreciate the unwavering support for such an important community goal from so many stakeholders, including the City of Sultan, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Sultan School District, and others. Broad, multi-level support is what enabled our State Representative Carolyn Eslick to secure state funding for a portion of the project as a benefit to all. Be sure to check in regularly and watch the future being built!"