By Shari Kaplan
Following more than six months of renovations, the Central Fire District station on Shannon Road is nearly ready for habitation again.
"It was a small, older station. Living conditions for firefighters were an issue," said Jim Bristow, fire district deputy chief of support services.
One of those issues had to do with gender sensitivity, as the force has now grown to include many women. Before its renovations, all beds at the Shannon station were in an open dormitory-type room. Cubicles now ensure that each person's bed is set apart from that of his or her station-mate.
Two individual, single-room bathrooms with their own showers, toilets and sinks have replaced an older-style bathroom that consisted of one larger room with stalls. A third bathroom--with full disabled access--has been installed in the front portion of the station for use by the public, if necessary.
To accommodate these and other changes, the station has been expanded 731 square feet out the front and the back, Bristow said, for a total of 4,648 square feet. This includes a more roomy recreation/common room and kitchen area. An automatic fire sprinkler system has also been installed.
Until the station is completely finished, fire personnel will continue living in and operating out of a large trailer--similar to the portable modular classroom units at schools. The trailer, which sits in the station's back lot, has an office, kitchen, bathroom and sleeping quarters for one fire captain and two firefighters at a time.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, March 5, 1997.
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