Prince George was recognized at the recent Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention for leadership in wood design for the new Fire Hall No. 1.
The city was one of five local governments honoured with a 2021 Community Recognition Award for use of wood in their community projects by Wood WORKS, a national industry-led program of the Canadian Wood Council, with a goal to support innovation and provide leadership on the use of wood products and building systems.
Fire Hall No. 1 began providing service to the community in January 2021.
The new fire hall is able to house modern firefighting equipment and is built to modern, post-disaster standards, which is essential for the city’s main fire hall and emergency operations hub.
The facility also improves Fire Rescue’s ability to protect firefighters with upgraded industrial hygiene and decontamination technology.
One of the unique features of the new hall is the front entrance stairwell constructed from nail-laminated timber.
In fact, during construction, crews used more than 100,000 fasteners and over 3000 pieces of lumber to construct this aspect of the facility.
In addition to the City of Prince George, the Community Recognition Award recipients included:
- City of Richmond for the Minoru Centre for Active Living.
- City of Fernie for the Fernie Memorial Arena Truss Repair.
- Town of Princeton for the Princeton Revitalization and Branding Initiative.
- Township of Esquimalt for the Esquimalt Town Centre and Library.
“We congratulate these five local governments for their visionary initiatives that truly enhance their communities and streetscapes,” says Lynn Embury-Williams, executive director of Wood WORKS! BC.
“These new structures connect us with the wood culture of our province and contribute to community pride and prosperity, especially when using local labour and BC wood products. Wood’s many benefits are showcased in all of these structures, including reduced carbon impacts and increased building performance, and demonstrate that traditional, as well as technologically advanced wood systems, can be used effectively and distinctly in many types and sizes of civic structures.”
A replacement for Fire Hall No.1 was proposed by the City of Prince George in 2017 to enhance service to more of the city and a referendum in Oct. 2017, saw residents vote nearly 83 per cent in favour of re-building the Fire Hall.
The city says having crews and equipment strategically located at its more centralized site on Massey Drive improves Fire Rescue’s eight-minute response time, which is critical for keeping fires contained to one room.
After eight minutes, fires can spread into the rest of a structure, greatly increasing the risk of fatalities.
