Home Fires Firefighter Buys Old Station

Fire Station 12 is back in business.

Thirty-three years after it was closed, firefighting gear again hangs on the wall, and a red light burns by the front door.

But this time, the northeast Spokane station is home to just one of the city’s finest: Ted Hartenstein. He bought Station 12 last month as a private residence, a choice that is dusted with delightful irony and heavy with history.

“I’m sure we’ll get a good response time,” said Ester Holmes, a neighbor.

Hartenstein, a firefighter with Station 13, spotted Station 12 when looking for an old building to remodel.

For $105,000, he got 3,000 square-feet of exposed brick, hardwood floors, oh-my views, even a hole for a brass pole.

“I’m putting the pole back in,” said Hartenstein. “A firefighter’s running Fire Station 12 again.”

He also plans to collect history and memorabilia from Station 12 and others in Spokane and decorate the entry foyer. But in case there’s any doubt this is his home, a large red sticker on the front window reminds neighbors to “Call 911 in an emergency.”

“Ted’s just the kind of guy to do that,” said Bob McBride, Hartenstein’s captain. “He just doesn’t seem to want to leave work. The rest of us, we’re in a hurry to get home to our families. Not Ted. He wants to go home to a fire station.”

Crews haven’t worked out of the building at 2303 E. Glass since 1964, when they were transferred to a newer building on Market Street. It’s been home to doctors and artists, and most recently was a music studio.

Previous residents remodeled heavily, installing, among other things, plate glass windows in the garage door and a sunken hot tub and wet bar upstairs. The top floor is as chic as a Soho loft.

But the cement Station 12 sign on the facade and the original hardwood floors remain. Six-inch pine beams, grayed with age, and the smell of coal dust lingers in the basement.

Hartenstein, a Virginia native, graduated from the Air Force Academy. He transferred to Fairchild Air Force Base while serving as a helicopter pilot. He was hired by the fire department in 1994 when his enlistment ended.

He’s too busy cramming for finals in his paramedic courses to research the building’s history. When he does, this is what he’ll find: The station was built when Hays Park residents complained about a lack of fire coverage.

According to a Sept. 7, 1911, Spokesman-Review article: “W.S. Charles of the Boone Avenue Improvement Club said that they must no longer ask, but demand the necessary security for life and property.”

The fire department bought two lots from Luella Warehime, and started building in 1912. Construction cost $5,000.

Station 12 was the first built for motorized engines instead of horse-drawn wagons. At the time, the department was making a conversion. The spare lot was still used for the two horses assigned to the station, said Steve Emmerson, who wrote his master’s thesis at Eastern Washington University on fire department history.

L.A. Mady, W.E. Hughes, H.D. Shewmiker and W.C. Ford were assigned to the station on its Aug. 4, 1912, grand opening.

Newly approved codes of conduct published in The Spokesman-Review in 1911 said firefighters couldn’t drink, smoke, swear or gamble at the station. Those rules were adopted in response to a scandal in which firefighters were too drunk to battle a blaze.

Nor could the firefighters “race” other engines on the way to a fire. Engines must stay in single-file lines, the new rules said.

Station 12 underwent a face lift in the late ‘20s, getting a coat of stucco and white paint. The station today looks very similar to a 1930 photograph.

The station barely missed the budget ax in 1932 during an efficiency review. Faster engines were eliminating the need for stations in each neighborhood.

Station 12 was finally sold to a Spokane doctor in 1964, during another efficiency review.

Remodeling done by a string of residents jeopardized the station’s historical significance, according to a recent city-sponsored survey of neighborhood buildings.

But it’s enough for bachelor Hartenstein, a Husky named Blade, Elsa the cat and a green iguana named Flash.

He plans to remodel the roof into a deck, which is accessible through a hole that was formerly used to store wet hoses. As the tallest building in the neighborhood, it offers 360-degree views.

The rest of the upstairs, with kitchen, bedroom, living room and south-looking views of Hays Park, will remain the same.

While describing his plans, a fire engine roared past. He broke conversation, listened to the direction the engine was coming from, and identified the station. “Fire station 15,” he said, to himself. A moment later, another siren. “Crews from 2,” he said.

He plans to keep work, including workout equipment, downstairs. By the door hangs his yellow firefighter’s coat and helmet.

“If there’s an emergency in the neighborhood, I’d respond,” he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 4 Photos (2 Color)