Helena approves $610,000 renovation for Fire Station 2

Helena moved ahead with a $610,000 renovation of Fire Station 2 after the City Commission unanimously approved the construction contract for R&R Taylor Construction. The upgrade is aimed at a building that has served the city since 1974 and now functions as a round-the-clock base for firefighters who sleep, eat, train and respond from the same station.

Assistant Fire Chief Mike Chambers said the work has been needed for years, with city staff starting to plan it a couple of years ago before locking in the design and funding. The project was split across budgets, with design money set aside in the 2024 budget and construction funding carried in the 2026 budget.

The renovation will convert restroom and shower areas from the station’s original 1970s layout into two private, ADA-accessible restroom and shower suites. It also adds a dedicated decontamination area near the engine bay, where crews can remove carcinogens and other combustion products from their gear and bodies after a fire. An unused racquetball court will become a fitness and wellness area, and the station will get a modern fire alarm system and an automatic fire suppression system.

Those changes matter on Helena’s east side near the interstate, where Fire Station 2 remains part of the city’s day-to-day response network. Chambers said firefighters carry 50 to 65 pounds of gear before they even begin pulling hose and doing fireground work, which makes a dedicated workout space part of the station’s operations, not an extra amenity. The renovation is meant to keep the building aligned with current fire service standards while reducing safety and workflow problems for crews on long shifts.

The project also fits a larger public-safety planning picture in Helena. City leaders said in January 2024 that the population had grown from 28,200 in 2012 to more than 34,600, and they were weighing a renovation to Station 2 against building a third station to serve the city’s north side. The city later said the Helena Fire Department answered 4,887 calls in 2023, the most ever for the department, and that current property-tax revenue does not fully cover present and future public-safety needs.

Helena has faced this kind of decision before. A City of Helena archival clipping from 1977 described a $316,000 addition to the old fire station in the Civic Center, adding space for equipment, work, training, exercise and living. More than four decades later, the city is again investing in the basic spaces firefighters need to stay ready while the department keeps a third station under construction.