Fire stations of the world: Brentwood Fire Station 5 opened, Tennessee, US
The City of Brentwood opened its fifth fire station in January 2023. The new $8,6 million fire station is located at 9551 Split Lot Road and will serve the rapidly growing southeast portion of Brentwood in Tennessee, US. In 2018, City Commissioners approved plans to purchase the property for $685 000. Construction began in the fall of 2021 and was completed in December 2022. The new Brentwood facility includes individual bedrooms, bathrooms, showers, a state-of-the-art workout facility and a training room. Along with the new building, it also includes a front-line fire engine and a reserve apparatus.
Design highlights $8.6 million for building and fire truck Two-bay, two storey fire station Meets modern fire station design standards Located in the fast growing, southeast part of Brentwood Approximately 10 000 square foot facility, located on two acres Located close to neighbourhoods to increase citizen engagement
Key features House single fire company Three to four fire personnel on site daily Individual bedrooms, bathrooms, and showers State-of-the-art workout facility Training room Publicly accessible restroom and drinking fountain for trail users
On Saturday, December 17, the City of Brentwood Vice Mayor and Commissioners, along with the City Manager, Brentwood Fire and Rescue Department leaders, design and construction teams and the community celebrated the official grand opening of the City’s fifth fire station facility and the arrival of a new fire apparatus. The
The new two-bay, two-storey fire station will house a single company or a fire crew of three to four personnel, depending on staffing schedules. The building is approximately 10 000 square feet and includes a public restroom, water fountain and water bottle fill station for people using the nearby City trail system. City of Brentwood Vice Mayor, Nelson Andrews, who spoke at the event, said this state-of-the-art facility was built with residents in mind. “Beginning with the initial concept of the building design, we wanted to make sure it fit into the community. You’ll notice the building façade, materials and colours of stone and brick chosen are all similar materials used in nearby homes,” Vice Mayor Andrews said. “We kept each of you and your desires in mind when starting to conceptualize this building years ago,” he added.
Brentwood Fire and Rescue Chief Brian Goss added, “early on we said we wanted to create a space where residents could stop in, talk to our firefighters, fill their water bottles and really use this as a community space.” In addition, Chief Goss added, “I want to thank our city leaders and citizens for valuing public safety so much to support and build a functional space like this to keep both fire fighters and the community safe.”
Brentwood City Manager Kirk Bednar, who also spoke at the Saturday morning event, talked about how this building will serve Brentwood for many years to come. “When we approached the City Commission about the need for this building, it was with purpose that this facility is where it sits today.” Bednar talked about the growing southeast section of the city. “With the development of Tuscany Hills, Sonoma, Taramore, Morgan Farms and Jordan Elementary a few years ago, we anticipated the increase in calls for service,” Bednar said. Brentwood Fire and Rescue Chief Brian Goss elaborated, “The number of incidents within this newest fire district has increased from 85 in 2014 to 224 in 2022. That is an increase of 165 percent in eight years.” Chief Goss also said, “in addition personnel and resources from this station will also respond to other districts as part of our larger, multi-unit support.”
Historically, when a fire station was built, there were only men in the department. Today, Brentwood and other cities have more women among their ranks than ever before, so it is important to utilise modern design standards. Bednar thanked Brentwood based companies, TMPartners, that led the architectural design and American Constructors, Inc, that served as the building construction manager.
Along with the new building, it also includes a front-line fire engine and a reserve apparatus. In 2021, Brentwood City Commissioners approved a $872 995 purchase for a custom Pierce fire truck. Engine 55, produced by Pierce Manufacturing, arrived on 5 December 2022 from Wisconsin. A committee of Brentwood Fire and Rescue staff led by Lt Cody Johnson helped create and build Engine 55 to meet the specific needs of Brentwood and specifically Fire Station 5’s response district, which is nearly 100 percent residential. Brentwood Fire and Rescue Deputy Chief Brian Collins said, “National Fire Protection Standards change over the years, and each change adds additional safety design features and equipment. The design of our two newest engines, Engine 51 and 55, utilised best practices and helped create the Brentwood apparatus standards for years to come.”
Saturday’s event concluded with a ceremonial hose uncoupling. In the fire fighting industry, when fire fighters successfully extinguish a fire, the last task is to uncouple the hoses. At that time crews drain the water and return the hose to the fire truck. “Today, as we celebrate the completion of Brentwood’s Fire Station 5, we uncouple the hose and officially open this fire station,” said Chief Goss. Immediately following the hose uncoupling was the fire apparatus push-in ceremony.
The City of Brentwood started its fire protection service for citizens in 1986 when the population was about 15,000. Today, the population is more than 45 000 and the department averages over 4 000 calls per year. Chief Goss enlightened the crowd about the history of firefighting when equipment was pushed back into the station by hand. “Beginning in the 1800’s, horse drawn steam engines were used but it was difficult to align the steam connections on the engine with those in the station, so the horses were unharnessed and the steamers were also often pushed back into the station by hand,” Chief Goss said.
Once motorised engines went into service, the hand pushing was history. “The fire service is rich with tradition, so that is what we are doing today with the push-in, we want to pay homage to the past,” Chief Goss added. Both current and retired Brentwood fire fighters placed their hands on the new truck and collectively pushed it in Fire Station 5.