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Decatur opens ‘green’ firehouse
in Oakhurst district
by Jonathan Cribbs
jonathan@dekalbchamp.com
Decatur’s old firehouse on West Hill Street in the city’s quaint Oakhurst district was built in 1948, so it’s safe to say it was probably in need of a facelift.
The city responded with a grand opening on June 1 of a new firehouse that’s close to acquiring LEED certification (meaning it’s designed with the environment’s best interests in mind). The $1.6 million station was paid for with a 2006 bond referendum that funded many capital projects. Some of the new station’s green features include:
- Solar panels on the back of a large glass tower that rises off the building’s roof
- The station’s roof is made of a white rubber-like substance that reflects energy from the sun rather than storing it as heat.
- The station is within the Oakhurst community’s downtown commercial area, and people are more likely to walk to it. Additional infrastructure is also not required to move people to the building.
- More than half of the building’s paved areas are concrete – not asphalt – which better reflects solar energy rather than absorbing it
.
- The building has an underground filter that captures oil, grit, hydrocarbons and metals before they seep into the storm water system.
“He’s been waiting for this 20 years,” Mayor Bill Floyd said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony about the city’s fire chief, J.W. Malone. “It’s a big day for the city and a big day for Oakhurst.”
The fire department is waiting to make sure radios are properly set up inside the firehouse before it is operational, Malone said. The building’s pending LEED certification will not drastically change the way firefighters operate inside the firehouse, but they will have to buy green cleaning products, he said.
“This area is growing, and they deserve a new facility of this nature,” Malone said.
Residents and city officials gathered outside the station were invited inside to tour the facility.
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