The sale of a nearly 50-year-old fire station marks the end of an era for firefighters who once belonged to the Southwest Adams County Fire Protection District.
Southwest Adams County Fire merged with the former North Washington Fire Protection District and in August.
Along with fusing the staff, budgets and equipment, the new protection district is consolidating its eight combined stations into five staffed stations. Two other stations will be used as storage space.
Station 12 “was built in 1966 and covered Sherrelwood,” said George Ditolla, the retired chief of Southwest Adams County Fire. “It was second station that we built. Back then we were all volunteers. I spent 10 years working out of that station … there are a lot of memories.”
Station 12 at 2185 W. 84th Ave. in unincorporated Adams County was placed on the market in August for about two weeks before a $255,000 offer on the 2,200 square foot building was accepted, said Susan Laurienti, a broker with Grace Property Management & Real Estate Investment in Thornton.
“I think the uniqueness of it being a fire station attracted a lot of interest, and it went very quickly,” she said.
Pat Laurienti, the chief of Adams County Fire, said money generated from the sale will be used to cover rebranding costs associated with the merger — things like new uniforms, badges and logos on the fire trucks and stations — and what’s left over will be put in a reserve account to use for future maintenance costs.
Savings from consolidating staff will also used to even out the salaries of the firefighter staff, which includes 86 paid, full-time firefighters. Historically, Southwest Adams County firefighters made less than those at North Washington.
There will be no tax increases to support any of the merger costs. In fact, Adams County Fire will use the lesser of two mill levies, which means the fire district taxes in Southwest Adams County will decrease to 16.2 percent.
Laurienti said Station 12 was sold because it had been several years since firefighters responded from there, and because two other stations are within minutes of that location – one at 88th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard in Federal Heights and another at 7980 Elmwood Lane.
“The citizens around that station that we’re selling should know that their services are not going to be dropped,” Laurienti said. “As a matter of fact, their services are going to improve because we’re staffing those two (nearby) fire department stations, and our engines will each have three responders on them.”
Laurienti was the chief of North Washington Fire for three years before the merger. When , Laurienti stepped in as chief of the new district. Adams County Fire is headquartered at the former North Washington main station at 8055 N. Washington St. The new fire district covers about 19 square miles, and serves more than 100,000 people.
The former Southwest Adams County Fire headquarters at 3365 W. 65th Ave., formerly Station 11 and now renamed Station 12, is the new prevention bureau, where firefighters enforce the fire code.
“Both (Southwest Adams County and North Washington) departments were formed in 1946, so there’s been a lot of history with both departments,” Ditolla said. “You hate to see some of that go away, but time moves on.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/MMitchelldp
