A large crack in the floor is seen at NLVFD Station 53 Thursday Jan 23, 2020. The firestation is currently undergoing structural repairs due to the building sinking 8 inches over the past few years.
Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020 | 3:30 p.m.
Less than 10 years after North Las Vegas’ Fire Station 53 was built in 2009, the city discovered something troubling: The building was sinking.
Last July, the city began to take action to stop the subsidence and remedy the building’s structural deficits. By that point, the building had fallen about 4 inches, North Las Vegas spokesperson Delen Goldberg said. In November, it was down seven inches. Repairs are expected to cost $2 million, Goldberg said.
That’s why North Las Vegas is asking the architecture firm that built the fire station to pay up.
“Our hope is that the people responsible, the builders, will do right by their work and fix it, and that it won’t fall on the taxpayers for their shoddy work,” Goldberg said.
The building’s problems began about two years ago and seemed innocuous at first, said fire chief Joe Calhoun. Cracks formed on the walls and in the floors, eventually growing into “3 to 4-inch gaps,” Calhoun said. Firefighters started to report electrical and plumbing issues, as well as doors and windows that wouldn’t open.
Once the city hired an outside company to investigate the issues, the severity of the damage caused by subsidence became apparent, Goldberg said.
“An almost $6 million building that’s supposed to last 50-60 years had failed in less than 10,” she said.
The city has filed a lawsuit against the architecture firm that constructed the building, Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, requesting financial compensation for the repairs, Goldberg said. Kendal Giles, principal architect at the Albuquerque-based firm, said the company would not comment on the allegations of structural deficits due to the active lawsuit.
Repairs to the building are underway, some of which have been disruptive to the firefighters, Calhoun said. In order to dig out the foundation and lift the building, construction crews needed to turn off the gas for most of October, November and December. As a result, the six firefighters stationed at Station 53 went without heat.
Firefighters, who live in their stations for approximately 48 hours at a time, didn’t want to leave the station out of duty to their community, Goldberg said. So, they cooked outside using cooking stoves and kept warm with space heaters, Calhoun said.
“The guys were gritty, hung in there and kept that station running,” he said. “Right around Christmas, we finally got the gas back on and they were able to cook inside.”
Further disrupting firefighters’ regular duties, construction workers had to drill holes in the floor and around the exterior of the building over the last several months prior to re-lifting the building’s foundation, Goldberg said. They then filled the holes with concrete in order to support the building. Windows, sidewalks and landscaping also had to be removed in order to relevel the floor, she added.
“Obviously, the inside was a wreck,” Calhoun said.
All repairs are expected to be finished by the summer, Goldberg said.
North Las Vegas is arguing in court that Dekker/Perick/Sabatini is responsible for the cost of repairs, which Goldberg said were caused by flawed construction rather than natural ground subsidence. Under a lawapproved by the Legislature in 2019, construction companies can be held responsible for building damage that comes to light within 10 years of completion; the law previously allowed homeowners and businesses to recover damages due to constructional defects that occurred within six years of completion.
“The contractor is responsible for assessing the soils and determining how deep to pour foundations to secure sound and safe building,” Goldberg said. “Clearly, that wasn’t done in this case.”
The city hopes that Judge Trevor Atkin, who is expected to make a decision on the case Friday, will agree with the city’s interpretation of the statute of limitations for repairs.
Calhoun said the city has handled the issue as best as it could and hopes Dekker/Perich/Sabatini is found liable for the repairs.
“We’re trying to get them to be accountable for their work,” he said.
