MANCHESTER — Fire stations have come a long way since the days when they housed a steam-driven pumper drawn by a horse.

The city of Manchester intends to replace one of its aging fire stations in the next year, and officials are looking into whether replacing another station makes sense.

Modern fire stations are built to use less energy, provide better training facilities and serve as something of a hub for the community they serve.

Manchester’s first priority is to replace a temporary Station 8, on East Industrial Park Drive, but officials have opened the door to also replacing the current Station 9, on Calef Road.

Two decades after the end of its projected life span, the current Station 8 has a roof the fire brass worry could come crashing down in a heavy snowstorm. Structural failure is not the only worry during severe weather. When heavy winds, ice, or any of New Hampshire’s other meteorological inevitabilities threaten, firefighters relocate because the station has no back-up power generator.

If the city builds two stations, it can use the same design plans for each. The plans were prepared for developer Richard Danais, whose deal to build a station for the city as part of a land swap fell through.

Fire Chief James Burkush said the new design can give the city modern firehouses that save on operating costs, provide more modern equipment, and can handle growth over the next half century or longer.

“It will be a 10,000-square-foot, three-bay station,” said Burkush. “It has quite a bit of expansion capabilies.”

The new stations would be able to house modern fire trucks of up to 70 feet in length. Construction would include bays, modern quarters for firefighters and meeting rooms.

The firehouses would also conform to current codes that require a sprinkler system, just in case the station itself is ever hit by fire.

Construction will also include new energy-saving features, such as skylights to maximize natural light. A concrete form construction system will create walls withgreater insulation values than in the past. New systems will remove diesel fumes from the garage area and will clean firefighter’s gear after use in a fire or hazardous materials response.

“Systems have really evolved in the past few years,” Burkush said.

Large modern fire stations are often outfitted with community rooms to give crime control and other community-based groups a place to meet that is right in the neighborhood.

“We have monthly neighborhood watch group meetings, local condo associations and some community meetings,” Burkush said.

When it opens, the new Hackett Hill station will be home to Engine 4, a combined pumper-ladder truck currently based at the temporary station. One of the fire department’s forestry companies may also be transferred to the new station. The chief projects the station could handle burgeoning commercial and residential development as well.

Modern fire stations are built with an eye toward continued development in the area they serve.

“That area has a potential for quite a bit of expansion and we would expect that a ladder company and even an EMS company could be in the station in the future,” Burkush said.

The proposed replacement for the Engine 9 firehouse, would also be built with an eye toward future growth in south Manchester. Burkush said the station would use the same plans as the Hackett Hill station. The plans were drawn to make allow for future expansion of the building.

A contract is for Hackett Hill expected to be awarded in July. Financing details have yet to be worked out, but the station could be financed through borrowing, or by taking the money from a fund for one-time city expenditures. Bidders have been asked to also give the city a price for building two stations at once, to see if buying two firehouses now can save the city money in the long run.

If construction begins in August, the fire chief expects the new station to open next spring.

wsmith@unionleader.com