The Bethesda Station 6 career firefighters want a better place to sleep, while the volunteers in College Park crave a new kitchen.
One group could soon get its wish granted.
The two firehouses are among the finalists competing for a $10,000 makeover through the Maxwell House/HGTV Spruce up Your Firehouse competition. They were picked to represent the Washington region in a 10-city photo-essay contest.
In Bethesda, firefighters have a long list of renovations they would like to make to their nearly 40-year-old station, but topping the list is a better bunkroom.
Bethesda’s two bunkrooms host as many as nine firefighters a night, but there are few bedside tables, fewer places to accommodate them, and only two electric outlets per room, one of which is usually dominated by an oscillating fan in the summer.
A better bunkroom “would give us better rest,” said Capt. Steve Snyder. “We’re here one third of our lives. It would prepare us for battle.”
The College Park Fire Station, located in front of the north entrance of the University of Maryland in College Park, is home to 20 to 30 student volunteers each day and is one of the only fire companies in the country with an exclusive volunteer program with a higher education institution.
“Our kitchen is a gathering place,” said Assistant Fire Marshal Megan Morales, a four-year volunteer who wrote the essay describing their neglected kitchen.
It has two ovens, microwaves, drawers, cabinets, and a dishwasher — all of which are either broken or function inefficiently.
The public will determine the winner of this contest by voting online at http://kraft3.promotions.com/maxwellfirehouse/front.do.
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