A West Dallas community gathered last week to celebrate a much-needed new fire station.
Fire Station 36 is located at 2300 Singleton Blvd., replacing the previous North Hampton Road location.
At the grand opening on April 11, the Pinkston High School Marching Band played music for those in attendance, which included community members, firefighters, the fire chief, and Dallas City Council Member Omar Narvaez.
Narvaez, who represents District 6, briefly spoke to The Dallas Express about what he felt was a win for his community.
“It’s great. It’s a great feeling,” Narvaez said.
The new station is twice the size of the old fire station built in 1953.
The 13,000-square-foot building houses “a transition zone for firefighter and bunker gear decontamination, personal lockers, and airlocks at each entry point of the station’s living quarters, to help with exposure reduction,” according to a press release from Dallas City Hall.
These new amenities are meant to help prevent cancer among career firefighters.
Taking preventative measures is important since firefighters are at a higher risk of developing certain kinds of cancer. This includes respiratory cancer, such as lung cancer or mesothelioma, as well as GI cancer and kidney cancer.
Cancer is the leading cause of death for this occupational group, with 70% of line-of-duty deaths occurring from cancer in 2016 alone, according to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network.
Many firefighters, past and present, attended the ceremony.
The Dallas Express caught up with Raymond Kitchen, a retired firefighter.
Kitchen told The Dallas Express that having a new fire station was wonderful and a long time coming.
“I think it’s a great thing. It’s about time because we’ve got stations built in the 1940s,” he said. “It’s the fact that now firefighters can have an upgrade, can have stations to feel comfortable and recoup and recover from the daily grind of the job.”
The fire station has bay doors, energy-efficient lighting, and a mural depicting L.G. Pinkston High School’s mascot, a Viking. Inside, a fire engine and a fire truck are also housed.
The fire station “was constructed from 2017 Bond Program funding,” according to the release.
The bond program “consists of approximately 1,400 projects organized into ten propositions and planned to be substantially completed over five years,” per Dallas City Hall.
The new fire station is one of the 42 projects proposed for public safety facilities.
Additionally, the City has over 1,000 projects pertaining to improving streets and repairing bridges, as well as over 200 projects devoted to parks and recreation facilities.
Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Dominique Artis spoke to The Dallas Express about what the new fire station means to firefighters.
“This is really a great day for us, and I’m excited when we have these types of days,” Artis said. “Our teams are excited about moving into these stations and serving our communities and being a pillar in the community.”