SAN FRANCISCO—On Thursday, March 28, Mayor Edwin Lee celebrated the opening of Fire Station One on 935 Folsom Street in the South Market area by cutting the ribbon.  This is the first new fire station for the SFFD (San Francisco Fire Department) in nearly 40 years.

“Investing in our City’s public safety infrastructure is critical to providing unparalleled services to residents in need 24 hours a day and being prepared for any emergency or disaster response,” said Mayor Lee. “Our City’s partnership with SFMOMA made it possible to make this vital capital improvement to San Francisco’s infrastructure. This new Fire Station One services a growing and transforming neighborhood in our City and meets the needs of our residents.”

The new station is the result of a public-private partnership between the City and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) from 2010.  The goal is to continue to rebuild the city and to improve aging public infrastructure to ensure the safety of the city’s residents. The new 15,136 square foot fire house has a new sleuth of resources to help reduce consumption and provide a healthy living environment.  It has solar water heating units, daylighting systems and technology that provide advanced indoor air quality.  The new fire station is also designed to meet LEED gold certification.

“This public-private partnership resulted in a safe, efficient and functional workplace for our members,” said SFFD Chief Joanne Hayes-White. “The people that we serve are the benefactors of the sense of security that comes with knowing this. Our appreciation of the creative thinking that inspired this project goes beyond the walls of this building. It sets an example for future public-private partnerships.”

The building was designed by the Architectural Design Firm Leddy Maytum Stacy and built by Webcor Builders.  The facility has three apparatus bays, communications facilities, equipment storage and living spaces for rotating crews of 13 firefighters per shift for a total of 60 firefighters staffing the facility with prepared emergency medical and fire services.

Fire Station One was built in the early 1900s, located on676 Howard Streetnext to the SFMOMA.  The building was in need of more than $9 million of repairs to make the fire station seismically safe for SFFD first respondents stationed at the building. Fire Station 43 was the last station dedicated to the city back in 1970 located at720 Moscow Street.

“This unique opportunity and innovative partnership between the City and SFMOMA has resulted in a win-win for San Francisco and the museum,” said SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra. “I’m delighted that our collaboration has allowed the creation of a new, modern, and seismically safe Fire Station One, while also providing space for us to share more of our collections and programs withSan Franciscoresidents and out-of-town visitors once our expansion is complete.”

The city of San Francisco is continuing to work to seismically upgrade and make health and safety improvements to fire stations throughout the region. With support under the City’s Ten-Year Capital Plan and part of the voter-approved Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response Bond, 22 stations will see improvements, including two stations built from the ground. Nearly $73 million in fire station upgrades are under way, in design or construction. For more information, go to: http://sfearthquakesafety.org.

By LaDale Anderson