The Fort Worth Fire Department is temporarily closing Station 26 on South Hulen Street because of concerns about mold and building repairs.
“They have some urgent repairs that need to be done and unfortunately our crews won’t be able to stay in the station while that is going on,” Lt. Kyle Faulkner said. “So, it will be closed for what we are hoping will be about six weeks for all the work to be completed.“
The mold was found in the rear area of the building in the living quarters.
“Given that, we are closing the station to take care of it is an indicator of how big the issue is,” Faulkner said.
The station needed other repairs, but the discovery of the mold ramped up the efforts and caused the urgent closure.
“There are several things that have kind of come together that needs to be addressed and primarily it is focusing on the HVAC system, making some repairs to those with some mold remediation and demolition,” Faulkner said.
Officials are not aware of anyone complaining of health issues, but said the health of firefighters is a priority.
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“The fact that we are closing the station to make the repairs and do the remediation indicates how seriously we take the health of our personnel,” Faulkner said.
The two fire crews usually housed at Station 26 will be moved to other stations during the repairs. Quint 26 will respond from Fire Station 39 on Oakmont Boulevard and Engine 26 will respond from Fire Station 36 on Columbus Trail.
“By doing this, we are going to be able to maintain our response times to that neighborhood surrounding Station 26,” Faulkner said. “We dispatch units based on their driving time from the fire truck to that location, having nothing to do with the station location itself. So, by moving these two units to the other stations and still being able to dispatch the closest fire trucks, we are able to keep response times down.”
