Construction is underway at Spokane Valley Fire Department Station 8 on Wilbur Road to make two engine bays longer to accommodate larger trucks.
The station was built in 2004 and houses a ladder truck, a rescue unit and the department’s water rescue team, said Deputy Fire Chief Tim O’Brien. “That fills up our three bays,” he said.
The department has ordered a new tiller truck, which has a second driver position in the back and is longer than a standard fire engine.
“It’s longer than existing bays are,” O’Brien said of the new tiller truck. “We want to accommodate modern fire apparatus that meet our operational objectives.”
The truck should arrive next spring, and the work to enlarge the truck bay will be finished by the end of August. The project to extend two of the three truck bays will add 600 square feet to the 12,600 square foot station, O’Brien said.
The project isn’t as simple as adding space to the front of the station. It’s complicated slightly due to the necessity of moving an interior stairwell. ZBA Architecture designed the project and Western States Construction started work at the end of April.