North City Fire Station 63 opens new building with Push In ceremony

Shoreline Fire Station 63 is open for business

Photos by Mike Remarcke

The Shoreline Fire Department held a soft opening and Push In ceremony on Monday, August 17, 2020 to celebrate the completion of the North City Fire Station 63 at 1410 NE 180th St, just off 15th NE in the North City business district of Shoreline.

Shoreline Fire Chief Matt Cowan welcome the group
gathered inside the fire station

The station replaced an old station house, built over 50 years ago in the same location. The old station had undergone two major remodels over its lifetime and was starting to have many of its systems fail. Station 63 responds to calls from 145th to 205th in the eastern portion of Shoreline.

Monday's event was a small-scale celebration with the pushing in of a fire engine, blessing, and flag raising ceremony. Because of the pandemic, it was not open to the public, but Fire Chief Matt Cowan says they hope to have a full open house sometime later in September or October if gatherings are allowed.

The apparatus is pushed into the fire bay by a group of firefighters and staff. 

The traditional ceremony included the Push In, with firefighters pushing a fire truck into the firehouse. The tradition dates to the days of horse-drawn fire wagons. It was more feasible to push the wagons back into the stations than to train a team of horses to back up!

Firefighters and staff stand at attention as the flag is
raised in front of the station

The new building has four apparatus bays with three of them as drive through or with options to drive out the back. The first floor has offices, work areas and training room. The second floor has crew quarters and mechanical spaces. 

There is a training area on the back of the building which includes the second story roof to practice ladder rescues.

The bays are full, the flag is raised, staff is at attention

Shoreline Fire celebrated the start of construction on its newest fire station with a groundbreaking ceremony on April 16, 2019. Construction was able to continue during the pandemic shut-down. 

The station remained in operation throughout the demolition, site prep, and construction. The new Storage Building and Modular Unit at the back of the site served as temporary fire facilities while the new building was under construction.

Correction: groundbreaking was April 16, 2019, not 2020