![](../images/for_pdf/1212-01601.jpg) | | Workers prepare fire station pad for underground utilities in this late July photo. Retaining wall is at left. Photo courtesy Steve Hill, ConFire | | | | | | The construction site may not appear to be a buzz of activity, but a Contra Costa County Fire Protection District official assured Lafayette residents that work on Fire Station 16 is moving along on schedule.
Since the district mitigated the removal of two protected oak trees on the site this spring, no major problems have unfurled, and only minor change orders have been approved, according to Assistant Fire Chief Aaron McAlister. One additional tree was targeted as a potential problem near the foundation, but the chief said a final decision on whether to remove that tree will not drag out the project.
A large retaining wall was completed on the south side of the station site, and work is now being done on the pad foundation, which lies at one height for the building and at a lower height for the apparatus bay. "It's the hardest pad I've ever run into," said a construction worker at the end of July. "And that's what you want."
McAlister said that the workers will next put in the underground utilities, and that a permanent foundation will be poured in the middle of August.
The chief said that the district still expects to open the new facility in March.
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