Description

This is the first example of the use of modular building technology to erect a fire station in Cambridge. It all began when TGAS was hired to find a way to house the Cambridge Fire Department and its Engine 1, Ladder 1, Rescue 1 and Dive Rescue Unit firetrucks offsite during the TGAS-designed retrofit of the Cambridge Fire Headquarters, as its controlled demolition and gut renovation mandated its vacancy. So TGAS came up with the solution of using modular construction to assemble a temporary fire station.

To find an appropriate site for a 12,000 SF station – a difficult task in a densely settled, historically tapestried city like Cambridge – 27 sites were examined, yielding 44 feasibility studies. A location on a Spaulding Hospital parking lot was settled on, because residents would not want the noise of firetruck sirens and roars in their back yards, and the hospital already generated noise from its emergency vehicles.

TGAS collaborated with the Canada-based Extreme Modular Buildings (EMB) to transport the modular station over 2,500 miles from Canada to the 15 Hovey Street site in four parts, each measuring 54’ x 14’ x 17’2” and built to house one of the four fire trucks. The parts were assembled into one station on-site and were connected to six trailers, which contain a kitchen, a fitness center, common areas, bathrooms and bunkrooms.

For the first fully operational modular fire station EMB has installed in the United States, Station 10 is already garnering plaudits from its users. The firefighters have expressed appreciation for its greater amount of space than in the HQ building, and for its offering of an individual bunkroom for each firefighter, as opposed to their being crammed into one dormitory in their pre-rehab HQ.

That is how Cambridge Fire Station 10 is serving as a model for the renovated HQ’s updated amenities, as well as for modular construction as a cost-saving measure for many building types.