ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 13, 1996 TAG: 9607150030
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
It happens an average of more than six times a day: someone needs help, and the Christiansburg Volunteer Rescue Squad responds.
Now, the squad needs a little help, and Christiansburg and squad boosters are responding in turn. The town is constructing a new, larger building for the squad, which provides life-saving and rescue services to people in Christiansburg and some nearby parts of Montgomery County.
"We need it. We don't have room for what we've got," said 1st Lt. Kelly Walters, chairman of the building fund.
The 22,883-square-foot building, scheduled to open in the fall on Depot Street next to the fire station, will solve a problem that has been plaguing rescue squad members recently: their current building on Stone Street is so small that some of the squad's vehicles block others in.
The new building will have six bays, plenty for the squad's 11 vehicles, Walters said. Also in the blueprints are a big meeting room, office space, utility rooms and bunk rooms for member use during bad weather. Also included will be men's and women's bathrooms, locker and shower facilities, a decontamination room, a computer room, activity room, a communication room that was designed to accommodate future technologies, an emergency generator and an elevator.
Glenn Reynolds, principal of Reynolds Architects, the Blacksburg firm that developed plans for the building, said the building was designed not just for use by the rescue squad but by the public as well. Thus kitchen facilities were included, the building was made handicapped-accessible, and waiting areas were included on the ground and upper levels. The bunk rooms upstairs have doors for privacy, he added.
The buildings will be constructed with dark brown and light brown bricks with a green facade to match the fire station next door, Reynolds said.
The drive-through vehicle bays will make responding to calls easier, Reynolds said.
The squad's 43 active members answered 2,443 calls in fiscal year 1994-95, the most recent year for which figures are available. That's an average of more than six a day. Most of the calls - 1,328 - were in Christiansburg, while 1,115 were in Montgomery County.
The building will cost $1.45 million. The town has been setting aside $100,000 a year for the past five years, for a total on hand of $568,000 including interest. The remainder will come from the town's general fund and a bond issue that Town Council approved in December.
The squad celebrates its 50th anniversary in 1997, making it one of the oldest rescue squads in the New River Valley. It will sell commemorative bricks to be placed around the flagpole for $50 each to help pay for the building. To help save money, squad members will do a lot of the inside work - shelving and equipment installation - themselves.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: The new rescue squad building will have six bays,by CNBplenty for the squad's 11 vehicles.