SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment (AFCEE) has designated the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District as the center for standardization for the design and construction of its fire crash rescue stations.
What's the difference between a fire crash rescue and a regular fire station'
A fire crash rescue station is normally located near a runway or airstrip and provides immediate assistance to any aircraft in the event of a fire, accident or crash landing.
How did this happen'
It all begins with the Department of Defense and the transformation of military construction.
The DOD decided that, in order to save money and facilitate construction, many of its buildings would be built in a standardized manner and modified only to adapt to local conditions.
The U.S. Air Force has a similar program to standardize the design for its fire stations.
"The Sacramento District was fortunate enough to be considered as the execution agent for the national program that the Air Force developed," said Steve Saepoff, chief of the Sacramento District's military construction branch.
"I put project manager Al Hernandez in charge of this program because of his experience and knowledge of Air Force requirements and his ability to meet the Air Force's needs."
"Any Air Force installation that wants to build a fire station will use the standardized design that we are providing," said Al Hernandez. "We will make sure the fire station is correctly site-adapted for the installation. We will likely be assisting the designer as well as the Corps of Engineers district where that installation is located."
The designation from the Air Force was not a random selection. The Sacramento District had to compete against other Corps districts to achieve this designation.
Corps of Engineers military construction branches are apportioned work by their customers: the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army and other federal agencies, depending on where the work is located and its proximity to a Corps district. Corps districts compete with each other for some unique types of work, depending on each district's inherent capabilities.
"We had to market AFCEE very hard to get to do the projects that we've done," said Hernandez.
"We were in competition with other districts that AFCEE thought had the capability to do this work. We were able to demonstrate that we could deliver what they wanted."
"We had to demonstrate a breadth and depth of experience of building various fire stations over the years," said Saepoff. "We have done quite a few."
"We created a standardized request for proposal for all future fire stations in the Air Force," said Jaime Cantu, program manager for AFCEE.
A request for proposal occurs when a government agency wants contractors to provide technical information and competitive cost estimates to bid for the agency's construction projects. A standardized request for proposal simplifies the bidding process and expedites initiation of a project.
"This will be the basis for all fire stations to be designed from and then we can save some money because we don't have to go out and start the process from scratch. All fire stations will start off the same," said Cantu.
The Sacramento District has a long history of building and completing fire stations for military installations, including; Vandenberg Air Force, Fort Huachuca, Beale Air Force Base, March Air Force Base, Nellis Air Force Base, Sierra Army Depot, Sharpe Depot, Creech Air Force Base and Hill Air Force Base.
The district is scheduled to build, or assist with building, fire stations at Pope Air Force Base, another station at Hill Air Force Base, Edwards Air Force Base and Charleston Air Force Base.
Social Sharing