Mountain View Fire Rescue prepares to move headquarters to Niwot

Mountain View Fire Rescue will be moving its headquarters to 6328 Monarch Park Place in Niwot this spring. The move was announced last fall.

Mountain View Fire Rescue will take possession of the building in late May, however, currently, there is not a set date as to when the move will take place. Once the move is complete, the fire protection district is planning to have a ribbon cutting and grand opening in July after their operations are moved in. There will be quite a few new operations, and some of the ones presently at Fire Station 4 at 8500 Niwot Road will be moving into the new headquarters.

According to current plans, the Boulder County Sheriff will have an office on the first floor of the new facility. The Boulder County Sheriff is currently leasing space at Station 4, which, when vacated, will give the emergency operations at Station 4 much needed space.

A few of the other operations on the first floor will be the Quartermaster, which is brand new for this department, Logistics Operations, EMS training, and two training spaces in the conference center. One of these training spaces can accommodate up to 185 people in theater style seating, or be split into two classrooms. There will also be a fitness facility for staff. This will be partially for training and working out, but it will also give injured firefighters a space for physical therapy in the headquarters itself.

On the second floor, there will be Community Outreach and Education space, which will run courses such as public education, CPR classes, babysitting, and more. Additionally, there will be the Prediction Division, which handles safety, permits and plans, the IT department, a video and photo studio for the Communications Department, administration offices, Assistant Chief for Emergency Operations office, Training Division, EMS Division, and additional conference rooms for classes or training.

Emergency operations will not be running out of the new headquarters itself, although there may still be fire trucks in the parking lot to get gear or help with training.

Fire Station 4 will still be operational and will still house emergency vehicles and some expanded operations. Previously, Fire Station 4 only had three people staffed at the station to drive both fire engines and ambulances. With the change, they will have a full staff with three drivers for fire engines, and two drivers for ambulances, so the district will have more resources to respond to emergencies from that station.

The district is selling its previous Base of Operations space on Stagecoach Road in east Longmont. The sale of the old headquarters will help pay for the new Base of Operations.

"One of the reasons we really look forward to moving into the new location is that it's going to be more centrally located for our residents and our firefighters and staff," said Rick Tillery, Mountain View Fire Rescue's Public Information Officer. "If they need to come to headquarters for any kind of reason, it'll be closer. We look forward to better serving the community by having our operations there."