City Council and staff have been frustrated by the slow progress on the construction of Fire Station 92, which began in January.
The station was expected to be done in November, but the deadline for substantial completion may be extended by 59 days, according to the Oct. 6 City Council meeting agenda. The meeting occured after the Reporter’s deadline.
Final completion is now set for mid-January 2015.
The city has hired an outside consultant, Wetherholt & Associates, to perform an inspection and provide a report on the roof installation, according to the agenda.
The station, located at 8473 S.E. 68th St., serves the South-end of the Island and responds to about 900 service calls per year.
The original structure, which was built in 1961 and later found to be seismically unsound, was demolished to make way for the new station.
The city contracted with Miller Hull architects in 2012 for the design, and last year the Council awarded a bid to Corp Inc., a construction company based out of Salem, Ore.
Corp Inc. presented the lowest of 14 bids, ranging from $3.5 million to $4 million. The Council also approved alternative means of funding the project. In 2012, residents voted on a nine-year levy for the fire station.
The $5.4 million budget of the project includes the station replacement, the purchase of a new fire truck, permitting, design and other related costs.
The city has taken a number of steps to reduce the size and cost of the new station. More than 1,600 square feet were cut from the preliminary design, and the Council limited the size of the new fire station to less than 8,000 square feet.
“We did our due diligence,” said Mayor Bruce Bassett.
Construction delays have been an ongoing problem, said City Manager Noel Treat.
Don Annotti, project manager at Corp Inc., said that if there are delays, he is “not aware of it.”
Corp Inc. is building another fire station on the Eastside – May Valley Road Fire Station 78 in Issaquah.
Kelly Refvem, chief of maintenance for Eastside Fire and Rescue, said that their project is behind schedule as well, but that the delays were caused by permitting and site issues, not the contractor.
UPDATE: At their meeting on Oct. 6, city councilmembers expressed their frustration about the project. They scheduled an executive session for Oct. 20 to discuss the matter further.
It’s Fire Prevention Week Oct. 5 – 11
State and local public safety officials want to remind local residents about the importance of having working smoke alarms in the home and testing them monthly.
According to experts, working smoke alarms cut the chance of dying in a fire in half. Almost two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
“In a fire, every second counts,” said Washington State Fire Marshal Charles M. Duffy. “Roughly half of home fire deaths result from fires that are reported between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. when most people are asleep. Home smoke alarms can alert people to a fire before it spreads.”
Tips:
Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each separate sleeping area and on every level of the home.
Replace all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old, or sooner if they don’t respond properly.
