Update on the South Shore Fire Station project for April - addressing the 2 most commonly asked questions: cost and what happens during construction?
- Derrith Schmidt
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
"South Shore Fire Station – April 2026
update from LO Fire Station Rebuild Task Force
The 2 questions we are asked most frequently regard the project’s cost, and how (or if) first responder service will be provided during construction. This month’s update will address both issues.
Cost.
The South Shore Fire Station Task Force, formed by the city of community members
and Fire Department & city staff, studied the cost issue thoroughly. First, we evaluated 9
recent local fire station projects – considering their cost, scope of work, materials, and
details. We toured several of these stations to see what we felt they did well, and what
scope elements we thought could be eliminated to reduce cost.
From this study, we derived a cost per square foot that we could multiply times our spatial program’s area. The spatial program was developed by the Fire Department to serve the community effectively for the next 1⁄2 century. The result, in today’s dollars, was a hard construction cost of $12.9MM. To this we added soft costs (architectural design, engineering, soil testing, survey, inspection, permits, project management, etc.),
escalation (to adjust for inflation), and contingency. Here’s the breakdown:
Fire stations are complex buildings - consider decontamination. Returning firefighters and all their equipment (turnouts, breathing apparatus, tools, and fire engine, etc.) must be thoroughly decontaminated. The removed particulates must be contained in a negative pressure area and then filtered out of the airstream to prevent the contaminants from migrating into their living quarters. Water run-off must be filtered before flowing into the storm drain system. These unique and costly systems are needed to reduce cancer among firefighters (now the leading cause of firefighter death).
To effectively serve the community for the next 50+ years, the new station’s scope must be more than just replacing what’s there now. The apparatus bay will house 4 pieces of
equipment – not 2 like the current station. The fire engine, boat & truck, spare fire engine,
and wildlands brush truck will be housed in the new station. The brush truck is a new piece of equipment giving the fire fighters a powerful tool for fighting brush fires quickly, in areas inaccessible by fire engines and far from the nearest hydrant. (the wildlands brush truck cost is covered in the Fire Department’s operating budget, not the bond).
Will first responder service be provided during construction? If so, how?
Yes – first responder service will be provided from this site continuously during demolition and construction.
Note – the task force evaluated shutting down the station and concluded that the impact to response times – city wide – would be unacceptable. Our remarkable
recovery rate from cardiac arrest (almost twice the national average) would be severely
impacted, and funding from Clackamas County would be lost.
Here’s how our fire department will provide continuous 24/7 service: a temporary fire
station will first be erected on city owned property just east of the existing station (near the existing water reservoir with the tennis court on the roof). The fire engine, boat/truck, and fire fighter/paramedics will then move into the temporary facility to provide uninterrupted fire and medical first response service until construction is complete.
After the equipment and crew move into the new fire station, the temporary station will be removed.
The cost of this temporary fire station is included in the project’s budget.
Conclusion: The cost estimate and bond amount of $20.6MM is a realistic figure enabling
our first responders to continue providing extraordinary service for the next 50+ years.
Be sure to vote YES on measure 3-635 on May 19th!"
Learn more at Lake Oswego Fire Station Rebuild website which has much more info, including FAQ's, upcoming events, endorsers, and information on the Art Contest.
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