AURORA —Aurora is planning for three fire stations near its eastern boundaries where the city is adding more land area, along with commensurate population density.
Stations 5, 15 and 16 are all in various phases of design and land acquisition. Station No. 5, currently at 1339 Airport Blvd., is going to be a rebuild and expansion project, and Station No. 16 is going to be a ground-up development near the Gaylord Rockies hotel project.
Station No. 15, Aurora’s easternmost firehouse at 1680 S. Catawba Circle, also will be a rebuild and expansion. The No. 15 firehouse is known best in the city for that was converted into a temporary station across the street from the subdivision’s clubhouse almost 10 years ago.
“When Murphy Creek was being built, the HOA wanted a temporary fire station out here that blended in with the community. As a house, it blends pretty well,” said Scott Archer, an Aurora firefighter who has been stationed out of No. 15 since it opened in 2007. “I came from typical fire stations before this, and I’m not going to miss it when it’s gone. I’m ready to get back to a more traditional style of firehouse.”
In December, Aurora allotted $531,260 for the design of Fire Station 15. The goal, according to Aurora Fire Capt. Mike Ackman, is first and foremost to create a fully functional fire station.
“It’s an individual home, and nothing in it is commercial grade,” Ackman said. “You build fire stations out of steel and concrete so you can drive fire trucks into them. This house was not built for that kind of use, so we’ve already had to replace ramps, get thicker concrete on the driveway after it caved in and so on.”
The lease on temporary station No. 15 expires at the end of this year.
“It is anticipated that Station 15 will begin construction later this year,” said Elly Watson, Aurora’s manager of business services in the Public Works department. “Informational meetings for residents will be held in the next few months.”
The new station will be on the northeast corner of East Jewell Avenue and South Flatrock Trail in the Murphy Creek neighborhood. The city is working with the developer and Murphy Creek to come up with a backup plan in case the No. 15 lease expires before the station is complete.
“It’s easily going to be more than double its current size,” Ackman said. “We’re going from one little car bay to three full-size bays, and two with drive-throughs. It’s also being designed to be expanded in the future, so as Aurora grows, and if the city decides to annex more land in the east, we have the ability to add a fourth bay for a rescue squad possibly.”
Each station project is projected to have a budget of about $8 million.
Sites for No. 5 and No. 16 have not been identified, but Watson said No. 5 will be within a few miles of the current station, which is too small. It currently sits on just a half-acre of land and can’t fit a ladder truck.
No. 16 will be built to serve the Highpoint, Gaylord Rockies, and Painted Prairie developments.
“The construction for Station 16 is dependent on timing of the dedication of the parcel. It is expected to open for service in 2018,” Watson said. “The search for a site for Station 5 is underway, but timing for land acquisition (and subsequent construction) is not known at this time.”
When the new Station No. 15 is done, the little house with a 20-foot-tall garage will be decommissioned and put on the market to be sold as a residential home.
“A lot of people are curious about buying the house,” Archer said. “It’s basically a garage with a house built on it, and people with motor homes or boats are pretty interested. This is an HOA governed community, so you can’t have that stuff here unless you buy the only house with a garage big enough to store it in.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or @Mmitchelldp
