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Sandyford Fire Station: Operational and open by October 2010
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Sandyford Community Fire Station - Opening in Oct/Nov 2010
Wayne Bowcock, Area Commander of the Stoke-on-Trent Community Protection unit came along to present one of the biggest community projects the area has seen for a long time.
With the intention of not only being a modern every day fire station, Sandyford fire station will also serve as a hub for the community. Staffordshire Services solid thinking is, that if they can get members of the community to use the fire station for every day events and clubs, then it gives them an ideal opportunity to save lives through safety sessions.
As we've seen in the news this past week this is no bad thing, as there has been a number of local instances where a lit unattended cigarette nearly cost the lives of 3 generations of one family, and sadly last week the death of an elderly lady in similar circumstances.
There will be a community gym, which will also be available to the public via their G.P, which will ensure that local people who wouldn't normally be able to access facilities such as this will now have the chance.
Space is also been planned so local bobbies can have a drop off point locally, in which they can better patrol the area, and be more available to locals.
The station will be crewed 24/7 by 28 firefighters working over four shifts and will house one standard engine alongside two specialist appliances The two storey building will include facilities for use by operational staff as well as a community room and a gym which can be used by both firefighters and supervised community groups. The site will cover an area of 18,000 square metres which will include a car park and training yard.
Over the next few months, Wayne would like to hear from residents with thoughts of what they'd like to do with the community room. So if you have any ideas please feel free to post them up.
So if you have a club or a group that would benefit from the use of a room, please let us know.
Staffordshire Fire Service choose Sandyford as a location for the fire station because of the new road infrastructure that connects the fire station to the easy via the completed Tunstall bypass, to the A500 and also the M6. The station will be built to supersede Burslem station, which is also having a face-lift and will see Burslem a part time station (9-5). Sandyford will become Staffordshire Fire Services show case station, costing £4.5 million, and will have it's upkeep paid for for the next 25 years. Sandyford is one of three brand new stations, and a extra 10 station modernisation.
"It was a risk profile of the area, based on several years’ worth of data, which identified Sandyford as an area that would benefit from a fire station. The location on Reginald Mitchell Way was chosen due to its good access to the road networks in the area. The new station will complement nearby fire stations in Kidsgrove to the north and Burslem to the south".
The building itself, is making use of the latest techniques to make it more energy efficient, and will also include a water recovery system.
Thomas Vale will be overseeing the Sandyford Construction and a signing over date of October 2010, having started work back in october 2009.
Reginald Mitchell Improvements
A major road reconstruction will also carried out during the course of this year, as we've already reported, Reginald Mitchell will be getting a second pedestrian crossing just above the focus roundabout, but probably even more important than this is the original plans to only allow the fire engines access to travel up Reginald Mitchell Way and back down again are sensibly being redrawn. The last thing that is needed in an emergancy is for the fire engine to be sat in the rush hour traffic heading up Reginald Mitchell Way towards the high street, if it needs to head east.
The new plans will now allow fire engines to travel up and down Reginald Mitchell Way from the station via a central reservation cut through. This will be accompanied by emergency stop signs to halt traffic when an engine needs to travel down Reginald Mitchell way. It's unknown if the entire stretch of road will be made into a 30MPH zone, so we'll keep you posted.
Peter Dartford, Chief Fire Officer/Chief Executive of Sandyford Fire Station, commented:
Sandyford will not look or feel like a traditional fire station, it has been specifically designed to be inviting to the public and allows for the integration of the community within the fire station. The station will really set the standard for the future of fire stations both in Staffordshire and across the UK.”
Further Reading
http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/...
http://www.thomasvale.com/eng/Good-News/Press-Releases/November-2009/Tho...
Related Pages
Don't try this at Home from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Se on Vimeo.
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