Due to overwhelming demand, the City of Vancouver has plans to build a temporary additional fire hall location to serve the immense emergency response demand emanating from areas in and around the Downtown Eastside.
A new municipal government application calls for the construction of a temporary fire hall facility at 722 Gore Avenue, located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Union Street and Gore Avenue, on the eastern border with Vancouver’s Chinatown district and adjacent to BC Housing’s Maclean Park housing complex.
Currently, the triangular-shaped lot is vacant and used as informal public green space — a 31,000 sq ft lot owned by the municipal government’s engineering department as a road reserve.
Site for the temporary fire hall for Vancouver Fire Rescue at 722 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)
Existing condition:
Site for the temporary fire hall for Vancouver Fire Rescue at 722 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. (TKA+D Architecture & Design)
Site for the temporary fire hall for Vancouver Fire Rescue at 722 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)
Future temporary condition:
Design concept for the temporary fire hall for Vancouver Fire Rescue at 722 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. (TKA+D Architecture & Design)
Design concept for the temporary fire hall for Vancouver Fire Rescue at 722 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. (Connected Design)
The intention is to operate this facility for between eight to 10 years to provide much-needed added capacity — supplementing the existing capacity of Firehall No. 2 at 199 Main Street, located to the north within the Downtown Eastside.
Fire Hall No. 2 is severely strained due to its location, responding to very frequent calls for medical drug overdose-related incidents, fire and alarm incidents, and other SRO-related incidents.
According to Vancouver Fire Rescue, Fire Hall No. 2 is not only the busiest fire hall in Vancouver but also all of Canada. For instance, in 2021, it responded to a total of 13,544 calls due to a surge in overdoses and fires, with the team of firefighters based at the location answering up to 40 calls per day.
2023 map of incident distributions for Vancouver Fire Rescue. (City of Vancouver)
The temporary fire hall will remain in place until Fire Hall No. 2 achieves its long-envisioned permanent building renewal and expansion.
It will feature a 2,245 sq ft tensile fabric structure for the indoor parking bays of two 40-ft fire trucks, and prefabricated modular buildings with 1,281 sq ft of staff quarters space for eight staff members. There will also be truck apron for parking, maneuvering, and the washing of fire trucks, as well as staff parking spaces, landscaping, and public art on the southern edge of the lot.
Existing condition:
Site for the temporary fire hall for Vancouver Fire Rescue at 722 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)
Future temporary condition:
Design concept for the temporary fire hall for Vancouver Fire Rescue at 722 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. (TKA+D Architecture & Design)
Design concept for the temporary fire hall for Vancouver Fire Rescue at 722 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. (TKA+D Architecture & Design)
Design concept for the temporary fire hall for Vancouver Fire Rescue at 722 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. (TKA+D Architecture & Design)
“The intention is to leave as much of the green space as undeveloped as possible as it currently functions as public open space,” reads the application, which is designed by TKA+D Architecture & Design and landscaping firm Considered Design. Six trees that are identified as dead or dying will be removed.
The temporary fire hall will be located very close to the emergency department entrance of the future St. Paul’s Hospital campus, which will open just to the south in 2027.
Existing condition:
Site for the temporary fire hall for Vancouver Fire Rescue at 722 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)
Future temporary condition:
ScreenshotDesign concept for the temporary fire hall for Vancouver Fire Rescue at 722 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. (TKA+D Architecture & Design)