Coventry's historic Radford Road fire station to re-open this weekend after rebuildCOVENTRY’S historic Radford Road fire station will finally re-open this weekend after being rebuilt.
Following an opening ceremony for invited guests, the site will be staging a road safety awareness day from 12pm until 4pm on Sunday (June 2), to coincide with the city’s two-day MotoFest.
It replaces the old station which was more than 40 years old and was demolished in March 2017.
The new station is a community fire station which encourages public involvement and is available 24/7.
It will be fitted with a state-of-the-art ‘turnout’ system which is designed to boost response times in emergencies.
It is a system of audible alarms and lights designed to alert firefighters as quickly as possible to the incident type and location – all as they’re heading to the vehicles.
Group commander for Coventry and Solihull Richard Stanton said: “We’re very proud of our new station.
“We’re now looking at displaying their initial route on screens by the engine bay doors, which they’ll see as they mobilise.
“The station includes a large, dedicated space for community use which is complemented by another area currently being used by a partner organisation.
“The gym facilities will also be available for initiatives with health agencies.
“Our fire cadets used to be limited to a standalone area of the old station, but a great advantage of the new one is that they’re now integrated with our operational crews.”
When crews return from an incident, firefighters enter a ‘dirty’ kit cleaning and drying area before a ‘clean’ zone where they get fresh kit before reaching the station’s office areas. The kit heating system has also been upgraded.
Chief fire officer Phil Loach said: “The evidence reaffirmed that the existing site was optimum for achieving our risk-based, five-minute response time.
“That response standard is at the heart of the new station’s design.
“We know from our studies of reaction times that seconds do count, so the functional and most-used spaces are nearest to the engine house.”
Further improvements to the station’s pre-existing fire house should be completed by Spring 2020.
Visitors this weekend will be able to tour the new fire station and watch firefighters giving demonstrations of how they rescue people from car crashes and give first aid. Advice will also be available on the safe fitting of child car seats.
There’ll be a visit from a fire investigation dog and a fire motorbike will also be on display.
Would-be firefighters aged 16 and over can attend a pre-recruitment talk at 1pm.