County Breaks Ground on Long-Awaited Fire Station in Clarksburg

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich joined County Council President Gabe Albornoz, Councilmember Sidney Katz, Department of General Services Director David Dise, Fire and Rescue Service Chief Scott Goldstein and other officials recently to celebrate the start of construction for a new Clarksburg Fire Station.

The new facility will be located at 23420 Frederick Road in Clarksburg. The fire station will provide a permanent home for first responders to meet the needs for the growing Clarksburg community. The new station will be a Class I Fire Station and be approximately 24,600 square feet. The new fire station is estimated to be completed within 18 months.

“This fire station has been a long-awaited addition to the Clarksburg community,” said County Executive Elrich. “Clarksburg is an area that has grown tremendously over the past decade. This station’s service area now generates more than twice the amount of emergency responses since 2005. The Clarksburg fire station provides our firefighters and paramedics a permanent home in this community and will help strengthen critical emergency services to our residents in this area. I appreciate the work, partnership and coordination of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services, along with our Department of General Services, to design this station with a ‘sustainability lens’ that minimizes impacts to natural resources.”

The facility will provide:

• Four drive-through apparatus bays;
• Administrative, training and living quarters for up to 22 firefighters;
• Gear, equipment and personnel decontamination facilities to support best practices in cancer risk reduction among firefighters;
• Space for the UpCounty Regional Services Center;
• A police satellite office; and
• Onsite parking.

“Today’s groundbreaking of a new fire station in Clarksburg is a testament to the incredible sacrifice made by our first responders and the critical importance of their service to our County residents,” said Council Vice President Albornoz. “This state-of-the-art facility will include a training and decontamination center to best support our first responders as well as providing space for our Upcounty Regional Services Center that provides essential services to those in need. This fire station will truly meet growing needs and build trust within the Clarksburg community."

The predominantly brick exterior was designed to provide a timeless civic presence. The site design was developed to provide safe operations while minimizing impact to natural resources.

“As the chair of the Council’s Public Safety Committee, I am especially pleased that we were able to break ground on the long-awaited new station No. 35 in Clarksburg,” said Councilmember Katz. “This station will provide enhanced services to the growing population in Clarksburg. Thank you to my Council colleagues, as well as our executive branch partners in DGS, and especially, to our first responders.”

The project has been designed to achieve “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” (LEED) Silver through the incorporation of systems that will reduce energy and water consumption, sustainability responsible materials and improved indoor air quality. The project construction cost is $12,287,220.

"Delivering outstanding, world-class fire and rescue services is our highest priority,” said MCFRS Chief Goldstein. “The new Clarksburg community fire/rescue station will allow the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service to continue this vital role in the Clarksburg greater area for generations to come."

As part of the project, the County previously extended public sewer service to the historic area of Clarksburg and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) is designing a new pump station. The project will remove area residents and businesses from dependency on individual septic systems. The nearly half-mile of underground sewer mains will drain into the pump station to be constructed by WSSC. The station is located on the Miles/Coppola property, within the Ten Mile Creek Watershed.

For more information about the future fire station, visit the project website.