It has become much too cramped in the almost 40-year-old Schwaiger fire department equipment store.
The local council has now decided what should be done.
Schwaig - Three vehicles have to be parked one behind the other in the garage, the trailer is outside in the courtyard because it has long since run out of space inside. In short: “That is suboptimal. It's cramped without end, ”says Dirk Lippold, commander of the Schwaiger fire brigade. For his men, however, it will be airier for the foreseeable future: The local council, to which Lippold himself belongs (WG Schwaig), unanimously decided in its meeting on Tuesday evening that the fire department equipment house should be demolished and a new one built at the current location. Cost point according to the first rough estimate without taking into account the current shortage of building materials: around 2.7 million euros.
After the urban development competition for the new town hall including residential development in Oberding (we reported), it is the next big project that the community is now pushing ahead within a short time despite Corona.
Of course, people have been pondering behind the scenes for a long time.
Architect Ludwig Maier from Wörth, who has already been active for the weirs in Notzing and Aufkirchen on behalf of the community, has finally put together three alternatives for the first rough direction with a working group from the Schwaiger Wehr, which the council should now decide on.
The first option for around 1.2 million euros would have provided for the renovation of the fire station and new parking spaces for the residential building with six apartments next door.
This is in the hands of the municipality and is inhabited by community citizens independently of the weir.
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The municipal council has now decided on variant two.
It provides for a new building and the demolition of the existing house.
The sketch shows the first rough planning with five exits.
Ultimately, the house can look completely different.
© Markus Schwarzkugler
Variant two, ultimately clearly favored, provides for a completely new tool shed, the residential building remains and has new garages.
"I like this solution best, I don't see much success in a refurbishment of the fire station," said Mayor Bernhard Mücke (CSU).
There was still a choice of the third variant, by far the most expensive, for 7.3 million euros, in which, in addition to the construction of the new equipment shed, the residential building would also be demolished and a new one with as many as 16 residential units and an underground car park built instead. Lippold is certain in an interview with our newspaper that we would have come up with something to accommodate the current residents during the construction phase. Only: in his opinion, the new building is not needed. The house, like that of the fire brigade, was built in 1983, but had no structural defects and at most it should be a bit pimped up.
The situation is different for the tool shed, however, after almost four decades.
According to the municipality, the building was designed for a weir with one vehicle and around 20 missions a year.
Today the Schwaiger fire brigade with its 48 active members (adults only, plus around twelve from the youth) has four companions: the still quite new 4000 tank fire engine, an emergency fire fighting group vehicle, a multi-purpose vehicle and a personnel carrier.
And before the pandemic, 160 missions a year were normal, according to Lippold.
The new home of the Floriansjünger will then have five instead of the current three exits for the vehicle hall, plus a social wing with changing rooms, training and storage rooms.
"The apartment building could still be built," said fire department consultant Georg Maier (WG Notzing) in the council meeting, and he, too, was clearly in favor of option two.
In view of the many requirements nowadays, there is almost no avoiding a new building, said Wolfgang Hirner (WG Aufkirchen).
Mücke made it clear that the community does not want to postpone the project forever.
In response to a request from our newspaper, Lippold believes that construction work will start in 2023 as realistic.
Matthias Reitinger asked about the flat roof that he recognized in the sketch.
Nothing is fixed yet, stressed Mücke.
It is a first rough plan.
The actual house could ultimately look very different.
Mücke promised that there is already a good solution for accommodating the fire brigade during the construction phase, but he did not want to disclose details yet.
The committee also briefly raised the question of whether a different location for the new tool shed might not even be conceivable.
At least there had been considerations in this regard.
However, access to Kirchenstrasse is difficult, and in the industrial park it may not be possible to meet the deadlines for assistance and deployment, Mücke explained.
That is why the current location in the middle of town is also the best for him.