The Bowling Green Fire Division has brought to city attention the dire need of a new and improved replacement for the Court Street Fire Station. According to a flier from the Fire Department, recent professional analysis has shown that this fire station is unacceptable and is not compliant with current health, safety, and ADA regulations.
The department said two options for improving the quality and location of the fire station exist.
Option one would replace the Court Street Fire Station with a single station further east. This is a lower cost option that uses existing staff levels. It would improve response times on the eastern side of Bowling Green but would slow down response times in other areas in the northern and southern parts of the city.
The second option replaces the Court Street Fire Station with two stations, one on the east side of Bowling Green and one located further north. Although this option would cost more, it would significantly improve response times to the populated areas of the city even when two or more calls come in simultaneously. The additional staff needed for this option and the additional fire station itself would position the city of Bowling Green to meet present and future challenges.
With the Court Street Fire Station turning 40 years old this October, the fire department has been working on their campaign for about a month now. They began by giving an informative presentation to the city council and are now presenting to various community organizations.
Deputy Fire Chief, Tony Zmarzly, said they will continue giving this presentation over the next month or two to collect data that will then be sent to a third-party. This third-party will conduct a study using feedback given after presentations to propose possible locations, conceptual drawings, and cost projections. Zmarzly expects the presentation of this data to be brought to the city council before the end of the calendar year.
So far, the fire department has presented to the Chamber of Commerce, the City Council, and Community Development Organizations. Within the next week or two, they will present to the Rotary Club. The goal of these presentations is to both inform the community and gauge the opinion of the community.
“Once we gather all that data, there will be recommendations to council on how to proceed. We’re not sure how that’s going to look yet,” Zmarzly said.
Although citizens of Bowling Green will not be able to specifically vote what path is taken to solve this issue, the flier from the fire department discusses statistics that depict why a new fire station is necessary. For instance, a recent structural analysis showed that significant structural deficiencies have begun taking root.
The building was constructed on top of an old quarry and, as a result, has sunk more than six inches from front to back. The fire station also is just 150 feet from the CSX train tracks, which means there is the potential for a train derailment to take out up to 70% of the personnel and equipment, according to a flier from the fire department.
In addition to the issues with quality, the location of the Court Street Fire Station could also be moved to improve response times. Fire Chief Bill Moorman expressed time is the most crucial resource when it comes to responding to an emergency. Much of Bowling Green benefits from the current response times of the fire station, but some portions do not.
See the maps below to see how response times are currently impacted and how they would be impacted by each existing option. Anyone who has further questions regarding this campaign should reach out to the fire or police departments.
“We are always willing to answer questions here,” Zmarzly said, “We are going to continue trying to have these discussions with the community over the next couple months.”
