The Bainbridge Island Fire Department will take its next big step in the building of its new home for its headquarters station next week.
Department officials opened bids for the construction of the new Station 21 on Madison Avenue, and fire commissioners expect to award the bid at their meeting on March 23.
The fire department will be spending the next two weeks clearing out the current headquarters station on Madison Avenue in preparation for construction of the new fire hall to begin. Last week, the department’s administration relocated its offices from there to Station 23 on Phelps Road.
Fond feelings of their former home were mixed with fatigue from the move as a small gaggle of firefighters stood around inside the newly vacant facility late Tuesday afternoon. There was some joking amidst sudden stretches of somber silence, and many memories shared, too.
Both Bainbridge Island Fire Department Chief Hank Teran and Assistant Chief Luke Carpenter recalled the many times their children visited the station and how they used to play in the now empty common areas. Tales of storied pancake breakfasts past and many, many card games came to mind, as well.
The afternoon rain had halted, at least temporarily, as the men prepared to lower the Station 21 flag for the last time. Handling the ritual was Bainbridge Island Fire Department Battalion Chief Dave Hannon, who began his career with the island department in 1975 as a volunteer at the Bucklin Hill Road station and served for the longest of any island firefighter at Station 21.
He was there to open the place back then, and to close it down now.
“We thought it would be only appropriate for him to lower the flag for the last time at fire station 21,” Teran said. “He’s a very humble man.”
Hannon said there had certainly been “many changes” during his 44 years with the department.
“My first three years was up Bucklin Hill [in] ’75, ’76, ’77 and then in ’78 we moved here,” he said. “Then I got on as career staff in ’88.”
Another round of joshing followed that, as several of the other firefighters took the chance to remind Hannon he was, well, very wise.
“After the ark came aground, Dave climbed off with all the other animals,” Carpenter laughed.
Giving as good as he got, Hannon reminded Carpenter and Teran that they themselves, “aren’t too far behind me.”
“As long as we’re behind you,” Teran shot back.
Hannon said he was “too tired to have mixed emotions now” after the hectic and laborious task of moving out of Station 21, though the odd reality of departing the facility had already begun to sink in.
“Last night was a sleepless night,” he said. “Thinking about all the times that we’ve had, good times and some bad times. But all in all, most if it was all good.”
Next week, firefighters will find out who will be standing behind the hammers and drills as a new fire station is built on Madison Avenue.
Three bids were received for the work, with construction estimates topping out at $10.4 million.
The bids were from FORMA Construction ($7.9 million), Blew’s Construction ($8.2 million) and Vet Industrial Inc. $10.4 million).
Bainbridge voters approved funding for the new station, as well as a rebuilt south end station and a revamped fire hall on Phelps Road, with their landslide “yes” vote for a $16 million bond in a 2015 special election.
