More on Pocomoke

I always talk about a dead horse being beaten and now I feel as if the stick has been handed off to me. I will try again to tell you what I have learned about the new Pocomoke Fire Station. My friend Joe Perdue took a tour of the facility yesterday and asked a few questions while being given a tour of their new home. AGAIN, let me reiterate, THIS FACILITY PROBABLY PERFECTLY SUITS THEIR NEEDS. It is NOT my intention to degrade Pocomoke's new facility in any way. They worked very hard at securing funds for their new location and they should be very proud of what they have accomplished.

According to their Grand Opening Program, the new facility is a total of 19,500 square feet. An article on Delmara Now reports the facility as 16,500 square feet. According the the Pocomoke representative the $2.2 million only included contruction costs. It did not include the land aquisition, old building demolition, or concrete removal. I am not sure what equipment (if any) was included in this figure either. Joe P. reports that within the building are 2 small offices, approximately 15 x 15 in size, a slightly larger rec room with a pool table, TV and chairs, a meeting/training room approximately 24 x 24. There is fairly small household type kitchen, a small bunk room (no bunks in place yet), a mechanical room, restrooms, and an upstairs storage area that is currently unfinished. They do have 7 suspended cleaning units that come on when equipment is started and censors indicate the air needs venting, but this obviously occurs after fumes have already been emitted. They did not use the system that Salisbury has in place because it was not cost effective for them. The have a small kitchen which was not designed for commercial use but for "the use of members on meeting night, drill nights, and sleep over crews when the have them." At this time, the only time they have sleep over crews is when there is a,severe storm, hurricane, or blizzard. Pocomoke does have plans to move forth with the second Phase of their construction which will include a community building. This facility will include (according to the above Delmarva Now article) 2 kitchens and a museum.

Obviously, the new Station 16 is much more spacious as it was designed to include administrative offices and a training facility. It also houses 24 hour sleepover crews. Maybe some don't agree that they needed commercial grade appliances. I certainly hope that the guys and gals will make good use of the kitchen facilities so I don't have to hear anymore bitching about the crews going to Super Giant and Panera for food. LOL. The new Station 16 also uses the PlymoVent exhaust removal system. This innovative sytem captures the exhaust at the tailpipe and vents thereby eliminating almost 100% of the fumes inside the building. Some might ask why Pocomoke's system wasn't good enough for Salisbury. Pocomoke's website reports they have run 37 fire calls since January. Salisbury's site reports 257 calls in January alone. Yes, I do realize this figure includes all stations, but it is a reference point to realize the need for the exhaust system that Salisbury has chosen.

I'm not sure what else to say about the subject. Pocomoke and Salisbury each built what they thought they needed to accomodate the citizens in their respective communities. Both are a "done deal".