Fire Crash Rescue Station, Patrick Space Force Base, FL

A new facility on the flight line at Patrick Space Force Base was needed in order to relocate the functions of the 45th Civil Engineer Squadron’s firefighting personnel and their mission. RS&H, as part of the design-build team, was selected to provide DOR design services for the construction of the facility that will support both the flight line and structure fire trucks. The facility is designed to be USGBC LEED Silver certified. It includes a gymnasium and sauna, kitchen, dispatch center, administrative areas, 14 sleeping rooms, scuba maintenance shops, infectious control areas, hazardous material containment, compressed air systems and high bay storage and maintenance areas for vehicles, boats and trailers.

The project had several areas of complexity that the RS&H design team successfully addressed. In addition to developing an operational layout for the unique functional areas, the site designers had to consider the existence of contaminated soil and potential dewatering, set-back protection due to the adjacency of a munitions building and height limitations for flight clear zones on the adjacent runway. Additionally, due to the coastal location of this risk category 4 facility, the structural design had to withstand 160-mph hurricane winds. This was particularly difficult given the large openings necessary to support the facility.

The project required an Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) and other environmental permits in coordination with the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) because the impervious area for the proposed site is more than 9,000 square feet. This necessitated modeling the entire site utilizing the Interconnected Pond Routing (ICPR) hydrologic software. The stormwater management system was designed and permitted on the first attempt.