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STATE-OF-THE-ART SAFETY
DNV’s dynamic new fire centre ready for action BRENT RICHTER
brichter@nsnews.com
Inside the Maplewood Fire and Rescue Centre, sunlight streams in from all directions.
The new home of District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services is clad in natural materials. Over all three floors, there are places designed to bring people together and encourage them to talk. It represents not just a change in esthetic trends, but in an underlying philosophy that a building can be designed to help take care of its inhabitants. Compared to the bunker-like facilities he’s spent much of his career in, assistant Fire Chief Gunter Kramer said there’s no question the building is making a difference for those facing calls that range from the stressful to the traumatic. “You go back into a fire hall that sometimes is more frustrating or depressing than the bad calls you came back from and … that doesn’t really make you feel any better,” he said. “And a building like this helps you.” After years of construction, crews began responding to their first 911 calls out of the new building on Old Dollarton Highway in January. The new facility, designed by S2 Architecture, consolidates numerous branches of the department that were spread over several smaller DNV fire halls before, including training, administration, public safety and Continued on A21
Fire Chief Mike Danks, of District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services, proudly shows off the new Maplewood Fire and Rescue Centre. Crews started taking 911 calls from the new facility in January. BRENT RICHTER / NSN