Sunday Fun - If you build it...

There is always talk around the dinner table at the firehouse that the house was clearly not designed by anyone who had ever even seen a firehouse before.
"The locker room is too small!"
"This kitchen sucks"
"Can't we have a toilet on the ground floor?"

The usual complaints.

So this Sunday we're heading out of HMHQ and over to the architect's office with a copy of Gerry Souder's book and the following demands.

#1 - Humidor Cabinet
The guys are having an occasional cigar, but why have the engine parked infront of the smoke shop every weekend? With this cabinet, each member can purchase and store quality cigars to enjoy 50 feet from the closest door, per policy. If your organization prohibits the use of tobacco products while on duty, install this in the basement. Cigars.com has a lovely selection.







#2 - Commercial Dishwasher
At a busy triple company house, feeding and cleaning up after 14 people can be a chore. But if you use a commercial strength dishwasher, you can wash an entire load of dishes in 90 seconds. That is not a typo. 90 seconds. I work at a big house that has one of these and it is awesome. Pile in the silverware, press on, wait a minute and a half and POW, clean forks.
It takes a few more cycles since there is only one tray, but the water heats up to 170 degrees and cleans those things like no one's business. The folks at ArchiExpo can tell you more.








#3 - 3 Burner Bunn-o-Matic Coffee Maker
Forget those fancy fru-fru drinks for $3 a pop at the local coffee shop. Save those for heading home. That's your reward for staying safe and going home again. Until then, we need 3 piping hot supplies of delicious coffee. Some may tell you the 4 burner is the way to go, maybe if you're having a lot of meetings at your house, but if you're all career, 3 should do fine. And while you're at it, stop buying the crappy coffee at the warehouse store and spend the extra $2 a pound for some quality coffee from a local vendor. Chances are he'll be glad to brag that you buy his coffee to drink in your house. No gifts, buy the coffee.







#4 - Wireless
Do I even need to include this in our dream house? What house these days doesn't have wireless yet? Get a private phone line installed and collect the $5 a month from the members and get a network set up. You'll likely want two routers, one on each side or end of the house so that the computer up front gets as strong of a signal as the dorms. We'll also need a communal computer for research and checking for updates on firegeezer. That brings up another thing, networking the network. That fancy TV you spent all the money on last year you currently use to watch Dancing With the Stars has a video input on the back. Run a cable from the computer to the TV and watch training videos, fireground close calls, and post important information. We recently had a boss do this to the giant TV to give a ventilation drill. he fired up the video on the communal computer and everyone actually wanted to try it and was involved. We watched, we learned, then we went and did it. And add in the free printer, make it wireless so all the laptop guys can use it too.


#5 Truck Turntable
Too many folks are getting hurt and some have even died while the apparatus is backing up. Why? Why are we even "spotting" these things, only putting ourselves in danger to protect someone's investment. Let's install a truck turntable. Pull in, press the button and just like Batman did, we're turned around and ready for the next attack from the Riddler. I can hear some of you groaning about how elaborate, expensive, problem prone this might be but it can never fail. It simply becomes a floor if it stops rotating. Not sure how the tillers will do with this, we'll look into something. And for those of you singing the praises of drive through bays...I don't want to hear your bragging anymore.



#6 Slidepole
No slide. Slide Pole.

Comments

What? No drive-through truck wash?

I'm surprised you didn't touch on the size and quality of the workshop on the premises. You may not have time to pull that powerstroke Diesel and re-bore the cylinders between your twelve daily runs, but its nice knowing you could if you wanted to.

:)
The Road Doctor said…
Three out of six ain't bad. Our Bunn is only a two-potter, but we are small, and no one smokes, so the humidor isn't needed. :)
Jay911 said…
I wish more places would think about #2. A dispatch center with 200 staff with two consumer-grade dishwashers? And you're surprised that one is always busted? Really?
The Observer said…
I really enjoyed this post :)
On dishwashers, you can get machines made by Hobart, which take up no more room than a regular dishwasher, load and work the same way, and can wash a load in 2 minutes or less. Also, they'll take a licking and keep on ticking. My folks had an Inn and we had one of these--totally awesome! And I can't remember more than one or two times it needed repair in 8 years (and that's in a hard water area that eats water using appliances).

Someday, I want to slide down a pole in a firehouse...
Anonymous said…
Jay911 -- You hit it on the nose!!!!! When we building version 2.O of our centre, you and I can beg and plead for commercial dishwashers, and fridges too; 'Cause really the 4 household size fridges and the 2 household size dishwashers (especially when 1 is always broken) doesn't cut it anymore!!

Happy, what would you do if your fire station was actually a 'fire house'. The Department that I dispatch for very very often has 'fire houses' built in new residential areas. The station looks just like a house and houses one engine. The ultimate goal of is to re-sell the house when the community goes larges enough to have a permanent fire station built, and the 'fire houses' boasts all the best in fire prevention too.

** Sorry for the late reply, but I just came out of my turkey coma from Thanksgiving in Canada. **
M said…
Brilliant, sir. Brilliant.
KD said…
Thank you, thank you for saying BUY the coffee in #3. No gifts!! As a LEO wife/niece/granddaughter I've heard so many embarrassing stories about people receiving free stuff in their uniforms. sigh. My husband and I go around and around about this all. the. time.
The Happy Medic said…
Little Girl,
All our Fire Houses used to be just that. Large ornate halls built in the late 19th century. After certain geological changes in the early 20th century, many were rebuilt with more of a civic duty in mind. Some still exist, I think I smell a Sunday Fun idea brewing.

And thank you M, does this get me double O status?
Anonymous said…
Happy, our 'fire houses' look just like a residential houses. No one would be able to pick out the 'fire house' from a regular house on the street unless they looks a little more carefully for the larger garage and the sign out front and probably a handful of other things.