Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Tuesday, Sept. 10 @ 3:01 p.m.
Smith River Fire Protection District's New Home Is Nearly Ready For Occupancy
Nearly eight years after purchasing the old Ray's Food Place, the Smith River Fire Protection District's almost ready to move in. | Photo courtesy of SFPD
The Smith River Volunteer Fire Department is set to realize a significant milestone in its efforts to find a new home, though there’s more work that needs to be done.
Nearly eight years after it purchased the former Ray’s Food Place, the old supermarket will look more like a fire station. According to Geoff Antill, the fire district’s project manager, that involved installing storefront glass as well as 14-foot by 14-foot doors.
The fire district also removed the old floor and poured 8 inches of concrete that can take the weight of the department’s fire engines.
“We hope to start responding from the new space once the apparatus bays are completed and before the interior work is done,” Antill told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Monday. “We still have to do some planning around that because if we move into [the building] while we’re still doing construction, it turns out both tasks get in the way of each other.”
The Smith River Fire Protection District acquired its current home at 245 Haight Avenue back in 1967, though it had occupied the building some years prior, according to a Monday press release.
However, with much of the building 57 years old, it’s not up to current seismic safety standards, according to the press release. Fire apparatus has gotten bigger and heavier and, due to the lack of space, has had to be stored outside, according to Antill.
“Some of the apparatus had to sit out behind the building behind a chainlink fence in the weather because there’s no place to put it inside,” he said. “We have, over the years, purchased new apparatus that’s either taller or longer or wider, so it’s just getting to the point where we can’t move.”
The fire department’s current home also lacks space to provide a hot zone for volunteers to decontaminate their personal protective equipment after calls. There’s a lack of sufficient parking for volunteers or space for training.
“The Smith River Baptist Church has been generous in allowing the district to use its parking area all these years,” SFPD states. “However, certain training exercises are not feasible even in that space.”
Remodeling the old supermarket included removing the old floor and laying down new concrete as well as installing 14-foot by 14-foot doors for the SFPD's fire equipment. | Photo courtesy of SFPD
SFPD Board members began to research alternative homes for the fire department in 2015 about two years after Ray’s Food Place owner C&K Markets entered into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed several stores including the one in Smith River.
C&K offered the old grocery store to the fire protection district for roughly the price of a four-bedroom home. According to SFPD’s press release, the old Ray’s checked all the district’s boxes.
The fire district purchased the property from C&K Market in January 2017. The following year it contracted with Sacramento architects CH&D and formed a citizens advisory committee on the new station’s design.
Even though the Smith River Fire Protection District knew that turning a former grocery store into a fire station was along-term project, the property provided space for training drills as well as a landing zone for air ambulances.
SFPD received a building permit from Del Norte County in May 2020 and made its first attempt at seeking bids in December 2020. About a year and a half later, the district engaged a cost-engineering firm to provide a cost estimate, which was used to divide the project into six phases.
By October 2022, the Smith River Fire Protection District found a local bidder to replace the roof. In 2023 after two attempts to find a contractor to remodel the building’s structural components, the district awarded the project to Broward Builders, who started work in November 2023.
According to Antill, the Smith River Fire Protection District had a building reserve since before it bought the old supermarket.
“But that wasn’t enough to do the entire project,” he said. “We made several attempts to find partners in the project and also to apply for some grants and were unsuccessful in all cases. Then at some point we just decided we’re going to do what we can with the money that we have.”
SFPD had about $1.2 million in its building reserve for the project, according to Antill.
Future projects at the new fire station include putting in dividing walls to separate the apparatus bays from the department’s office space, Antill said. They also plan to create a training room, a kitchen for fire crews and additional storage and potentially sleeping space.
“That sleeper program is probably years off unless we find a grant that allows us to do it sooner,” he said.
CLICK TO MANAGE