Fire department holds open house for new station – Kenosha News

Posted On: July 27, 2019

Jamison Lowrance wants to be a firefighter when he grows up.

So the chance to take a tour of the newly completed Fire Station 1, 2210 52nd St., was quite a big deal for the 3½-year-old.

“I like it when they get out the fire!” exclaimed Jamison.

Jamison and his mother, Patricia Lowrance, were among many citizens and public officials who got an up close and personal tour during an open house of the fire station on Saturday to celebrate the fire station’s completion.

It was also a day for fire house dignitaries with presentations from Kenosha Fire Chief Charles Leipzig, Chief James Poltrock, EMS division chief, building contractor Ed Stuckey and architects Trevor Frank and Mark Zvitkovits.

Frank and Zvitkovits, of the architecture firm Short, Elliott and Hendrickson Inc., presented Leipzig with a parade axe engraved to commemorate the completion of Fire Station No. 1.

Fire Station No. 1 replaces Station 3, 2121 Roosevelt Road, and Station 5, 2125 Washington Road.

The new $7.2 million station is scheduled to open Aug. 6. It is located on the site of the former Bain School built in 1906. The school, which had been vacant, was torn down to make way for the new station.

The new facility includes living areas designed to accommodate a workforce that includes male and female firefighters.

Also on hand was Taylor Douglas, the University of Milwaukee architecture student who helped create architectural renderings of the new firehouse.

It was the first time she had seen the completed fire house and an exciting moment for Taylor. “This is the first project I have ever seen go start to finish,” she said.

Currently a senior, Douglas, 21, said she did her first drawings during freshman year while working with Frank. “I took pictures of the old school and included cutouts of them in my colored pencil drawings,” she said. “The goal was to keep references to the old Bain School.”

The plans did eventually include the capstone from the 1906 building, found by demolition crews as they took down the school.

Other remnants from the old building include doors from the school leading to the training room, a fence along 52nd Street made from crushed stone and bricks from the demolished school and a fire pole from Fire Station No. 5 and wood lath from the school’s walls now incorporated into a wall of the new firehouse.

Respecting the history of the school was top of mind for Frank, chief architect.

“Before we even interviewed (for the job of designing the fire house), I took pictures of the site,” Frank said. “When people stopped to ask me if they were going to reopen the school, I became inspired to fold in elements from Bain into the firehouse.”

“It was a great project for us and our company to be involved with,” said Stuckey of Stuckey Construction Co. “I am a lifelong Kenosha resident and to do a local project like this is so great. We had 200 local tradesmen involved. That’s the true meaning of a local project: money earned in the community and spent here on mortgages, restaurants and groceries.”

The point of the open house, said Leipzig, “We want to show the community what they bought; how we replaced two older fire stations with an efficient and durable building.”

Before the presentation, Leipzig noted that one of the differences between the new building and older firehouses is it’s external profile. Older houses tended to be much taller to accommodate a “hose tower,” he said. The tower was used to dry hoses, which formerly were made of natural materials that needed air drying. Today’s hoses are made of vinyl so once they’re drained, they’re ready to go again.

Among the challenges was fitting what was needed by the new house into 1.6 acres, Leipzig said. “Everything is within three inches of fitting on the property,” he said.

When it opens for business, Fire Station No. 1 will be home to 52 firefighters.

Those touring the facility were impressed with its execution.

“It’s a boon to the city, merging fire departments for the safety of our citizens,” said Ed St. Peter, city administrator and manager and water utility manager who will be retiring in August.

“We’ve been watching it go up,” said Kenosha resident Leslie Schlax. “My dad was a firefighter in Milwaukee. It’s a beautiful facility and a great location; I think the guys and gals who will serve here deserve it.”