Torrey Pines Fire Station

Coffman provided fire protection and structural engineering and acoustical services for the design and construction of the Torrey Pines Fire Station (TPFS), a 10,500 sf three-bay fire station located in La Jolla, California, at the northwest end of the University of California, San Diego’s campus. The project is a concrete masonry unit (CMU) shear wall building with steel gravity framing, concrete over metal decking at Level 2, and open web steel joists at the roof level.

TPFS is Coffman’s first project using Tally, a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) software. It is a pilot project to support the SE 2050 effort to reduce and eliminate embodied carbon in structural engineering projects by 2050. Per Tally, this project has approximately 12,600 ft² of embodied carbon area and a total embodied carbon impact of 530,836 lbs CO₂e, thus having an embodied carbon intensity of 42.13 lbs CO₂e/ft². As LCA software is more widely used, Coffman plans to track the changes throughout projects to see a reduction in embodied carbon over time.

When complete, the facility will accommodate three fire apparatuses and a crew of nine to eleven fire personnel, onsite surface parking for fire-rescue personnel apparatus bays, dorm rooms, a kitchen, a watch room, a ready room, a station alerting system, an IT data network, wet and dry utilities, electrical, mechanical, and all other necessary infrastructure associated with this project. In addition, the offsite improvements include, but are not limited to, site grading, utility, and street/traffic improvements within the public right-of-way along Torrey Pines Road to allow for emergency response apparatus egress & ingress. Due to the project site location within the Coastal Zone, the project requires discretionary permits, surveys, and studies to meet all land use and environmental regulations.

Coffman managed the fire/life safety scope of work, which involved working with the UCSD Campus Fire Marshal and the City of San Diego to determine fire access and analyze fire flow compliance.

Renderings provided by McCarthy Building Companies