The Isle of Palms (S.C.) Fire Department has had more than its share of challenges with hurricanes and station construction. After Hurricane Hugo in 1989, the department rebuilt its fire stations, but structural defects and mold required the stations be demolished and rebuilt yet again.

The department finally is moving into the new Isle of Palms Public-Safety Complex this week, after several years of temporary facilities. Chief Ann Graham is particularly pleased with Fire Station No. 2, which won took the silver in the satellite category of Fire Chief’s 2008 Station Style Design Awards.

 “The new station seems like it’s built to last and is very functional,” Graham said. “That’s what got us into trouble before. We quickly rebuilt [stations] after Hurricane Hugo, and they weren’t built very well. We had to demolish and start over. It’s been an ongoing process.”
 
Graham said the most challenging aspect of building a new facility has been providing continuity of service to the community.
 
“It’s been a five-year project, working out of mobile trailers while we were trying to find the right locations for our stations,” she said. “In the past six or seven years, we have had to move at least five or six times.”
 
Graham said they were fortunate after completing Station No. 2, to immediately start construction on a new headquarters facility.  
 
“I wish we could have built the two simultaneously, but we were able to include things we overlooked in Station No. 2 and were able to incorporate them into the headquarters. Having built two stations back to back was pretty good,” she said.
 
Isle on Palms also was fortunate to find an architect with public-facility design experience. “Getting the right architect has made all the difference,” Graham said. “Before, we picked someone that didn’t specialize in government buildings, but this time we got it right.”
 
Mark Shoemaker of CR Architecture + Design served as the architect for the Isle of Palms stations, and he was pleased the way Station No. 2 and the Public-Safety Complex blend with the local architecture of the coastal island community.
 
“The design of the station reinforces the local architectural fabric while at the same time providing a solid, functional building that serves the public safety personnel as well as the residents of the community,” Shoemaker said.
 
From a design standpoint, the most challenging aspect was fitting a building that nearly doubled the size of the former station on a very narrow site. Shoemaker said, “We achieved this, while at the same time resolving FEMA coastal flooding requirements and working within the strict building height limitations of the local zoning ordinance.”