Groundbreaking Held for New Fire/EMS Station

Photo By: Mark E. Brady     Photo By: Mark E. Brady

Civic and community leaders gathered this morning, Wednesday, October 10, 2007, with citizens and residents at a ceremonial groundbreaking event for a state-of-the art Community Fire/EMS Station. The District Heights Community Fire/EMS Station 26 will be constructed on a parcel of land on Marlboro Pike near Silver Hill Road . This new station will house the existing District Heights Fire Station which was built by volunteer firefighters more then 50 years ago. 

Prince George’s County Fire Chief Lawrence H. Sedgwick stated, “Since the beginnings of the Fire Service in America , the fire station has been a hub of the activities for the community. A safe haven in times of trouble, and a place to turn to for help of any kind. When finished, this station will blend well in to this community both esthetically and functionally, and we hope it will become an integral part of this community, enhancing the role the current District Heights station plays in its community today.” 

“This fire station is more than just that. It is also a community center. People will be able to have meetings here and some will even live and sleep here,” Prince George ’s County Executive Jack Johnson said. “We are building something for a community that will tremendously benefit from it.”

Tom Stommel, Volunteer Chief, District Heights Volunteer Fire Department, stated, “The existing fire station has served the community extremely well over the past 50+ years, I only hope that the new station will serve the community as well.”

The new District Heights Community Fire/EMS Station will feature four drive-through engine bays, sized for modern equipment needs, with ample space for two fire engines, a ladder truck, an ambulance, and two supervisory Chief response vehicles. 

Interior features include state-of-the-art educational, meeting and conference areas, and comfortable workspace for the volunteer and career personnel who will staff the facility. Creature comforts for our workforce, as well as employee health and safety, were paramount concerns that will be witnessed in many of the design features, including the vehicle exhaust evacuation systems, physical fitness equipment, and more “cardiac-friendly” station alerting systems.

This facility also includes numerous environmentally-sensitive design features, including energy efficient heating and ventilation systems, abundant green spaces, tree conservation planning, materials that emit lower levels of volatile organic compounds, energy efficient roofing, and glass, and state-of-the-art controllability of lighting and thermal systems.

Construction of the new District Heights Community Fire/EMS Station is anticipated to take up to 10 months.