BY JOHN MULLEN

jmullen@gulfcoastnewspapers.com

GULF SHORES, Ala. — The walls may just be metal studs right now and there is evidence of construction all around, but Gulf Shores Fire Chief Hartly Brokenshaw can envision what his department’s new station will be like.

“This is Keith and mine’s office right here,” he said. “He’ll be at one end and I’ll be at the other so we can yell back and forth at each other.”

Keith being Assistant Fire Chief Keith Martin, who came along for the tour. Brokenshaw said construction is supposed to be complete by Feb. 26.

Right in the front door will be the administrative area of the new building with a receptionist area behind glass and the two chiefs’ office right behind that. The public will enter the building via a two-story foyer.

“This part’s going to be open, a big atrium right here and when you step through into here, this is where the work room will be with the guys and their computers where they’ll be working,” Brokenshaw said.

Also in the pubic area will be small clinic of sort, Brokenshaw said.

“In this door here, this’ll be the triage room if somebody comes in and needs first aid,” he said. “It’s got a bathroom and a medical storage area.”

Also in the public area are two bathrooms and an office for the man in charge of each shift. The fire marshal’s office is across the hall from Brokenshaw’s and Martin’s.

“Over here is the battalion chief’s office,” Brokenshaw said. “Basically they will have their own office because they are only here one shift each day.”

Stairs from the foyer will lead up to a classroom on the second floor. Also upstairs will be the training officer’s office and a huge area for storage on the back side of the building.

The classroom will also be available for public groups to conduct meetings. There are two more public restrooms upstairs to serve the classrooms as well.

“The good thing you’ll be able to at night when we’re shut down, the front door can stay open and come up to the classroom and still have our second exit out there, too,” Brokenshaw said. “So this could be used and wouldn’t even interfere with the rest of the station. It could be used for any type of meeting that you’d want to have.”

Also upstairs will be a workout and weight room for firefighters to use. Brokenshaw was really pleased with the large storage area.

“This all back here is all storage,” he said. “It’s going to be finished and we’re planning on taking it and making it like these inside warehouses with the chain-link fence up so it’s not junky and it’s secure.”

The back half of the first floor will be closed off to the general public and house living quarters for the firefighters.

“When you come down here there’s four complete bathrooms on this right-hand side and each one has a shower, toilet and sink,” Brokenshaw said. “There’s an opening in the center between those and that’s where the washing machine and dryer will be.”

A huge locker room will be just off that hallway and beyond the locker room will be four rooms with bunkbeds.

“There’ll be a bunk bed right here and a desk,” Brokenshaw said. “Then over on this wall we’ll have a TV. One reason we have the TVs in here is we can have training stuff come over the air, too.”

At the end of the bathroom hallway, just before entering the truck bays, are two other bunk bed rooms supplied with lockers.

“Instead of having a women’s bunk room, we just broke it down where it will be same thing we have over in there except they’ll have their area in here and there will be three lockers in there, too,” Brokenshaw. “We’ve got two of those.

“We broke it down to where you can call them the women’s bunks, but they can be used for anything. These will have doors that will shut.”

The day room will be on the back, southern end of the building. It will contain a kitchen with an eat-in bar, room for a dining room table and TV viewing area. Just out the door will be a 12-by-12 covered patio.