Waiting out(side) firehouse fixes.

Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - Fire Capt. Bart McCool says crews at the city's Thurston firehouse aren't looking forward to spending a second straight winter living and working out of portable trailers set up behind the mold-contaminated station.

"We're tired of this," he said. "It complicates our response (to emergencies) and our daily activity. It's been 13 months, and we're still living in the parking lot."

Unfortunately, McCool and 14 other firefighters who work rotating 24-hour shifts at the station have no choice but to wait it out while the building is reconditioned. The firehouse has been closed for more than a year because of widespread mold, dry rot and insect damage caused by water leaking into the building.

Meanwhile, the repair cost has skyrocketed, forcing the city to dip into its reserves to pay for a project expected to take several more months to complete.

The city has spent about $210,000 so far on structural repairs, and another $42,000 has been needed for associated costs, including trailer rentals and hiring consultants. It could take an additional $300,000 to finish the repair and cleanup job and move crews back into the station at 68th and Main streets, city spokesman Niel Laudati said.

Springfield officials have taken a deliberate, step-by-step approach at dealing with a situation that came to the forefront in mid-2005, when the city firefighters' union hired a private company to inspect the 26-year-old building for mold. The firm, Mold Technologies of Lane County, detected water damage throughout the building, and found mold in the attic and main living areas.

The discovery prompted about 10 firefighters to notify the city that the station environment caused them health problems, from respiratory congestion to skin irritation.

Three filed workers' compensation claims, all of which have since been denied by the city's insurance carrier, Human Resources Director Bill Spiry said.

Still, no one's saying the firehouse didn't need significant attention. City Manager Gino Grimaldi says the project has taken much longer than expected, and that he is sympathetic to the complaints of firefighters who have grown weary of staying in trailers.

"Those are tough conditions, and the temporary living quarters are not adequate," Grimaldi said. "We need to get this done."

But Grimaldi won't venture a guess for when crews will be able to reoccupy the station. Every time construction workers probe deeper into the building, they uncover further damage.

"We keep finding more problems as we go along, and as things come up, we address them," Grimaldi said.

At this point, Grimaldi said it is more cost-effective to continue fixing the 5,000-square-foot firehouse in phases, rather than raze it and build afresh.

Firefighters say they've found Grimaldi, who took over as Springfield city manager earlier this year, receptive to their concerns. When they first pushed the firehouse-repair issue last year, union members felt that city officials were resistant to thoroughly examining the station.

"We weren't happy with the way this whole thing started out, but I am confident the city is doing the right thing now," said McCool, vice president of the firefighters' union.

A mold and dry rot problem at the firehouse was noted in a 2000 study by architect Paul Bentley, who was tapped by the city to report on the condition of Springfield's stations. Bentley recommended a complete removal of the siding, and said water came in through skylights that were part of the building's original design.

Despite Bentley's conclusions and the mold report and submitted by the firefighters' union, the city last fall hired Robertson/Sherwood Architects of Eugene to take a closer look at the station.

That firm issued a two-page report stating that the cedar siding did not need to be removed for a mold search because it was "tight and in good condition."

With the conflicting reports in hand, city officials ultimately decided that part of the siding should be stripped. They found that the station needed some repair, but never expected they would have to gut and nearly completely rebuild it.

"We didn't think the damage would be as extensive as it is," Deputy Fire Chief Mark Walker said.

So far, the entire roof has been replaced, along with all of the siding and the building's heating/air conditioning unit. Walker said much of the work during the next three to five months will focus on the interior, including replacing walls, ceilings and carpeting.

The station's two ambulances and one fire engine will be housed this winter in a tent on the parking lot. Space heaters will be used to keep the engine's water lines ice-free, and warm the ambulances' patient compartments.

Fire officials say service levels at the station have not been compromised by the make-shift quarters.

However, McCool points out that crews are delayed a few seconds whenever they're called to respond to a fire or medical crisis, because they now have to hustle across the parking lot from the trailers to reach their emergency vehicles.

"There haven't been any negative outcomes because of all of this, but the potential for that is there," McCool said.