House Demolition Begins for Downieville’s New Fire Station

DOWNIEVILLE – Demolition began Wednesday, October 14, on the house at 117 Main Street, clearing space for the Downieville Fire Department’s planned new station.

The project’s preliminary design phase is scheduled to end October 30. It will then enter a “design development” phase focused primarily on the building’s interior.

The Downieville Fire Protection District announced the purchase of the Dan and Ingrid Larson property in August. Donations covered the full $475,000 purchase price, leaving no mortgage, according to Frank Lang, chair of the district’s board.

Plans outlined in August called for a two-story station of roughly 12,000 square feet, with space for all nine of the department’s fire and medical response vehicles. Lang said the proposed ground floor would cover about 8,000 square feet, with another 4,000 square feet upstairs.

The new station is intended to bring together operations spread across five facilities. In its August announcement, the district described a station attached to the Downieville Community Hall that is too small for newer, larger fire apparatus, and an 1855 foundry building that lacks heat and has limited access from a narrow street. Ambulances, administrative offices, and training activities occupy other spaces.

The district hired J.T. Heater, an architect from Nevada City, to design the new station. The August plans included an independent power source, decontamination measures for responders and their gear, and a communications center connected with the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Forest Service. Bringing responders to one location would also provide a single place to organize personnel and equipment, the district said.

The district’s initial estimate in August put the project’s cost at roughly $10 million. At that time, it hoped to begin construction of the new station in late 2027 or early 2028.