| Dallas
Fire-Rescue is pleased to announce the opening of its second replacement
fire station this month. The new station on 56th Street replaces
the facility at 4607 S. Lancaster Road, which had been serving the community
that surrounds Veterans Hospital since 1953. Firefighters moved to the
station and began responding from the new location on May 21st.
Station 25 houses Engine 25, Truck 25, Rescue 25 and Battalion Chief 5.
The Lisbon Fire
Station, at 4237 Lancaster Road, provided fire protection for Lisbon, before
being annexed into the City of Dallas. Old #25 was a two story, two bay
house built in 1932, at the corner of Lancaster Road and Ann Arbor Avenue,
that eventually gave way to a strip of small commercial occupancies.
The majority of fires answered by Station #25 are one story, two bedroom,
"big booster" fires. The occasional commercial fire is usually memorable.
On March 5, 1983, at 11:33 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to 337 East
Ledbetter Drive, the Western Auto Store. The fire spread to a four alarm
before being brought under control at 1:38 a.m. During this fire, the roof
and a wall collapsed on several firefighters. A total of seven firefighters
received injuries that kept them away from station duties for as long as
seven months. In addition to the regular box card assignment, six MICU"s
were called to transport the injured to hospitals.
When firefighters are not on emergency calls or studying for the quarterly
exams, they play volleyball or competitive croquet.
Station #25 is chosen as a testing site for many new and innovative ideas
in the fire service. During the construction phase of the station, the contractors
tried a new idea for the apparatus room. The floor of the apparatus room
was built as a "floating slab." However, the concept failed when the weight
of the equipment caused the floor to sink and pull away from the walls,
necessitating the contractors to return and completely renovate the floor.
Another idea tested at the field level at Station #25 is the current station
terminal network system. (Two stations--#17 and #25 were picked as trial
stations based on their monthly activity and the presence of a battalion
chief.) Today, computerization is an integral part of the fire service in
Dallas.
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