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Photos by Steve Shay
Burien/Normandy Park Fire Chief Mike Marrs gave a tour of the yet-to-be-opened Burien station to the Highline Times May 23, focusing on three key problems causing delays, & a possible lawsuit against the contractor. Marrs is pictured in top photo on the roof to show widespread puddling. The roof is not sloped enough to allow drainage. Drain is seen at far left. Middle photo is exterior brickwork with a line of rust caused by rebar placed to close too the surface, 3/4" instead of the regulation 1 1/2". Far right, the five sets of red vertical doors are warped. Bottom photo shows water leaking in between warped vertical doors.

Burien's new fire station is eroding, & so is the dept.'s relationship with contractor

By Steve Shay
May 23, 2013

The Burien Fire Department seems to be on a life-saving mission to rescue its new station at 900 SW 146th St. The state-of-the-art, but yet-to-be-opened, facility is plagued with infrastructure problems, from the massive roof, which hosts numerous stagnant puddles, to the 28-foot high brick facade, with rebar rusting through more than two hundred large brick sections, to those bright red vertical "apparatus bay" doors, each one warped at the seal.

The building cost the public $8.6 million, $9.2 million with tax. However, costs continue to mount as specialty contractors and architects work to identify the failing features, and try to find a fix, if there is one.

Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department Chief Mike Marrs gave a tour of the station to the Highline Times Wednesday, May 23, focusing on the key problems causing delays. He said every expert they have hired to examine the structure agrees with the departments' specific claims of structural faults.

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