Building Types
100x120 Fire and EMS Station Building
- Width
- 100 ft
- Length
- 120 ft
- Floor area
- 12,000 sq ft
- Perimeter
- 440 ft
Quick dimensions
At a Glance
Width
100 ft across the gable end.
Length
120 ft along the sidewall.
Floor area
12,000 sq ft of clear floor.
Eave height
14 ft at the sidewall on the stored profile.
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Configuration
How This Building Is Configured
Configuration summary
| Building type | Fire and EMS Station Building |
|---|---|
| Footprint | 100 ft × 120 ft |
| Floor area | 12,000 sq ft |
| Eave height | 14 ft |
Planning
Footprint & Space Planning
Footprint
Width and length are chosen together: width is usually fixed by what has to fit side by side, length by how many bays are needed.
Height
Eave height affects door options, storage height and how open the interior feels.
Access
Where vehicles and people enter changes the whole interior layout, so access is settled before anything else.
Doors and openings
Opening width, height and position are specified with the supplier; they affect the frame and the wall bracing.
Site
Slope, drainage, access for delivery and erection, and the foundation are confirmed for the actual property.
Expansion
Extending along the length is usually simpler than changing the width later, which is worth deciding up front.
Use
How a 100×120 Fire and EMS Station Building May Be Used
Assembly space
Clear-span width determines how the main space can be arranged and seated.
Support rooms
Ancillary rooms are commonly placed along one side or at one end.
Access and egress
Entrance and exit placement follows the occupancy requirements for the use.
Acoustics and finish
Interior treatment is specified with the intended activity in mind.
Example
Example Configuration
Access
Doors & Access Considerations
Opening width
Across a 100 ft gable end, the practical opening width is limited by the frame and confirmed with the supplier.
Opening height
A 14 ft eave sets the ceiling on door height before any frame change.
Drive-through
Matching openings at both ends avoid reversing, at the cost of usable wall.
Similar sizes
Other Sizes for a Fire and EMS Station Building
100′ × 100′
10,000 sq ft
100′ × 140′
14,000 sq ft
90′ × 120′
10,800 sq ft
Related
Related Building Types
Example configuration — for planning purposes only.
FAQ
Common Questions
100 ft × 120 ft is 12,000 square feet of floor area before any interior partitions.
Length is usually adjusted in bay increments, and width is a larger design change. Both are confirmed with the supplier for the final design.
Site preparation, foundation and erection are commonly quoted separately from the building package. Confirm the scope of any quote you receive.
Compare nearby sizes
Related footprints for this building type
Each page works through one footprint for one building type.
Cost drivers
Quantities that move the estimate at 100x120
The estimate at 100x120 moves with four computed quantities: 12,000 square feet of floor, 440 feet of perimeter, 6,160 square feet of wall and 12,369 square feet of roof. Everything else is site and specification. A leftover strip earns its place only when something is deliberately put in it; otherwise it is circulation with a nicer name.
Dedicated training space adds meaningfully to the footprint and its finishes beyond what the apparatus floor alone requires, and that addition is deliberate rather than incidental — it is what distinguishes this mode from a station with an apparatus floor only.
- apparatus door height and width
- drive-through bays versus reverse-in bays
- exhaust capture in the bays
- crew quarters as a separate conditioned envelope
Overview
A 100x120 fire and ems station building planned as a station combining an apparatus floor with dedicated training or drill space under one roof
This page is ordered around arrival, because in a client-facing office the first thirty seconds after the door decide how the rest of the plan has to work.
5 training bays fit across the 100-foot width with only 0 feet left over, which is a tight fit: the width is fully committed and nothing can be widened later without moving a wall.
What distinguishes 100x120 is depth behaviour: 3 rows along 120 feet after 18 feet of circulation, with 6 feet unaccounted for at the end of the run. The building is fixed for decades while the operation inside it changes every few years, and the plan has to survive that.
A 100 by 120 footprint is a mildly directional plan: 12,000 sq ft enclosed by 440 ft of wall, at a 1.2:1 length-to-width proportion. Along its 120 ft dimension it takes 3 runs of training bays at 32 ft, leaving 24 ft over — the 24 ft is where the argument about this size actually happens. Combining an apparatus floor with training or drill space multiplies the building's use but also multiplies the ways one activity can interfere with the other, so the central planning task is drawing a boundary — physical or procedural — that keeps a drill from ever standing between apparatus and its door. A substation earns its size by doing deliberately less than a primary station, not by quietly duplicating the primary station's full program at a smaller footprint.
At 100x120 the operating question is a specific one: can the training area be used at full activity while the apparatus bay stays clear and ready, or does one always have to stand down for the other? That is a different question from the one a fire and ems station building of another shape has to answer, and it is why this footprint is planned as a station combining an apparatus floor with dedicated training or drill space under one roof rather than as generic covered area.
Areas, perimeter, roof area, ridge height, slab volume and the training bay counts on this page are computed from the stored 100x120 record and this platform's planning module for the fire and ems station building category.
Openings
Openings for 5 training bays across
Openings are the pinch point here. With 0 feet of spare width the gable cannot host 5 separate doors, so access is either shared or moved to the 120-foot sidewall. The plan should survive the day the largest item the operation owns has to come inside.
The apparatus door remains the priority opening and should never open into or across the training area; a separate entrance and, where a drill tower or yard is included, its own access route, keep the two functions from sharing a threshold.
Framed-opening sizes, headers and the structure around them are engineered for the specific building. Confirm every opening with the door supplier and the building manufacturer before ordering.
Allocation
Dividing the floor for a station combining an apparatus floor with dedicated training or drill space under one roof
The staffing and turnout pattern this station could equally be planned for is a volunteer station members drive to and park apparatus in, entering and exiting through the same bay front: there is no turnout area between the bays and the day room, so gear is staged wherever there is a wall left over and members cross the bay floor to reach it. Dividing the 12,000 sq ft by the 20 by 32 ft training bay gives roughly 12 positions before circulation is deducted a second time for cross movement. Whether the plan keeps 12 or drops to 9 comes back to the question this footprint is really answering: can the training area be used at full activity while the apparatus bay stays clear and ready, or does one always have to stand down for the other?
There is no end zone at this footprint. 6 feet is circulation slack, not floor area with a purpose, and there is no separation zone, so a drill in progress has to be cleared entirely before the apparatus floor can be used for an actual response. The floor treatment is a use decision that outlasts most of the equipment standing on it.
Width is fully committed at 100x120. With 0 feet spare, wall storage and passing room compete with the training bays directly. Two operations of the same size can want opposite plans, so the arithmetic below is a starting point rather than a recommendation.
At 1.2:1 the plan is close enough to square that neither width nor depth is doing the arguing; what decides the layout here is where the openings go, because no proportion is forcing a direction on the floor. Spent as a square 110 by 110 instead, the same 12,000 sq ft would stand 4 training bays across rather than 4, and would trade this plan's length for parallel access. That is the width-against-depth decision this footprint has already made. A building of this size behaves like a small yard under a roof: zones need to be defined, signed and left alone, or they migrate. Two independent activities need to run without either one waiting on the other, so scheduling and layout both matter: the apparatus response sequence has to be assumed possible at any time, including during a scheduled drill. Clearance in the apparatus bay follows the tallest apparatus expected to be housed there, not the ceiling height anywhere else in the building. That movement pattern, not the 12,000-square-foot total, is what decides whether the leftover 6 feet is useful here.
Configurations
Configuring 15 training bays at 100x120
At 24-foot nominal bays the structure works with the layout instead of against it: one training bay per bay line, walls free of awkward half-positions. An empty building looks generous and a working one rarely does; plan against the working state.
With 3 rows deep, the rear row is behind the front one. Without a route past it, those training bays become storage positions rather than working ones — the real cost of depth at this width. Ground conditions and drainage decide the floor before the frame does.
Extension is cheapest along the 120 ft dimension, where each added bay repeats work already framed; widening past 100 ft is a different frame rather than a longer one. Growing to 100 by 152 adds a 4th run of training bays — useful if the constraint is training bays rather than the 24 ft already spare at the far end.
Configured as a station combining an apparatus floor with dedicated training or drill space under one roof, 100x120 is judged on whether the 15 training bays it holds match the operation, and on whether the 0 feet of spare width leaves the route this mode depends on.
- Does the work need an interior street with independent zones on both sides and turning room at each end, or does it need a second lane that this 100-foot span cannot give?
- Is the 120-foot length being bought for depth, or for the repeated bays — a long repeating bay sequence, so segment boundaries are set by bay lines rather than by walls?
- Is the tallest apparatus dimension measured with everything mounted?
- Drive-through or reverse-in, and what does the apron allow?
Bay division shown here is a planning module computed from the stored length. Actual bay spacing is set by the manufacturer's frame design for the building.
Usable area
How the 12,000 square feet divides at 100x120
Computed training bay fit for a 100x120 fire and ems station building
| Measure | Computed at this footprint |
|---|---|
| Training bays across the 100-foot width | 5 at a 20-foot module |
| Leftover width | 0 ft (0 sq ft as a full-length strip) |
| Rows along the 120-foot length | 3 at a 32-foot module after 18 ft of circulation |
| Leftover depth | 6 ft (600 sq ft across the width) |
| Total training bays | 15 |
| Share of floor committed | 80% |
Module footprint used here is 20 by 32 feet, this platform's planning module for a fire and ems station building. It is not a code minimum or an engineered clearance.
Example allocation of the 120-foot length — planning model, not survey data
| Zone | Length along the building | Computed area |
|---|---|---|
| Primary operating area | 72 ft | 7,200 sq ft |
| Customer or staff area | 26.4 ft | 2,640 sq ft |
| Back of house and utility | 21.6 ft | 2,160 sq ft |
Shares applied to the stored 120-foot length; areas computed against the 100-foot width.
Module footprints and allocation shares come from this platform's use typology and are published as example planning models. They are not recommendations and do not describe a majority of projects.
Height
Interior height for a 100x120 fire and ems station building
Across a 100-foot span the 3:12 pitch adds 12.5 feet between eave and ridge. The centreline measures 26.5 feet; anything parked or stacked near a wall lives with the 14-foot eave. Neighbouring buildings, setbacks and the approach road often decide the orientation before the plan does.
Height on a 100 ft span is a separate decision from the 120 ft length, and it is the span that sets the frame's behavior. Raising the eave over 12,000 sq ft affects every bay along the 120 ft dimension, so the test is whether apparatus and training station genuinely needs the extra clear height or only the floor area.
Ventilation across 12,000 square feet at this height: exhaust capture in the bays is planned as part of the building rather than added afterwards.
Clear height below purlins, bracing and lighting is lower than the eave height. The usable figure comes from the manufacturer's framing for the selected building.
Comparison
What changes at adjacent footprints
Computed comparison of nearby footprints for a fire and ems station building
| Footprint | Floor area | Training bays |
|---|---|---|
| 60x80 | 4,800 sq ft | 6 (3 x 2) |
| 40x120 | 4,800 sq ft | 6 (2 x 3) |
| 50x100 | 5,000 sq ft | 3 (3 x 1) |
| 60x100 | 6,000 sq ft | 3 (3 x 1) |
| 50x120 | 6,000 sq ft | 6 (2 x 3) |
Areas computed from each stored size record; training bay counts computed with the same 20 by 32 foot planning module.
- 60x80 moves the count from 15 to 6 training bays (3 across by 2 deep), which is the reason to choose between them.
- 40x120 moves the count from 15 to 6 training bays (2 across by 3 deep), which is the reason to choose between them.
- 50x100 moves the count from 15 to 3 training bays (3 across by 1 deep), which is the reason to choose between them.
Nearby footprints read for a fire and ems station building: exact change in area and in planning training bays
| Footprint | Area Δ | % Δ | Training bays at that footprint | What changes for this use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100x100 | −2,000 sq ft | −16.7% | 10 (5 x 2) | −5 training bays on the same planning module. |
| 80x120 | −2,400 sq ft | −20% | 16 (4 x 4) | +1 training bay on the same planning module. |
| 100x150 | +3,000 sq ft | +25% | 20 (5 x 4) | +5 training bays on the same planning module. |
Areas are arithmetic on two stored size records; training bay counts use this platform's 20 by 32 foot planning module and are not a capacity statement.
Because this footprint is planned as a station combining an apparatus floor with dedicated training or drill space under one roof, the useful next reads are different from the ones a differently shaped fire and ems station building suggests: apparatus and training station, drill space planning, combined training fire station.
Visualization
Reading the 100x120 footprint as a fire and ems station building
FAQ
Questions about 100x120 fire and ems station building projects
A 4-inch slab across 12,000 square feet computes to 148.1 cubic yards before thickened edges, piers or waste. The final design comes from the foundation engineer.
Reserving 18 ft across the 100 ft dimension for movement leaves 82 ft of working width, which takes 4 training bays at 20 ft. Along 120 ft it takes 3 runs at 32 ft. That is 12 positions out of 12,000 sq ft, and the remainder is circulation, walls and the margin every plan needs. Whether that count is enough depends on can the training area be used at full activity while the apparatus bay stays clear and ready, or does one always have to stand down for the other. These are planning figures computed from the footprint, not a quoted layout.
6,160 square feet of wall and 12,369 square feet of roof at a 3:12 pitch — the roof exceeding the floor by 3%.
Either can work; the deciding factor is usually site layout and how training activity should relate to the apparatus floor, which is a planning decision made with the department rather than a fixed rule.
The width leaves 0 feet spare after 5 training bays. There is no margin, so added equipment or wall storage comes out of a position. Width is the dimension that cannot be extended later.
Methodology
How this page was produced
Sources and methodology
Find Steel Buildings dimensional records
Find Steel Buildings · Primary platform dataset · Tier 1 — code authority, standards body, primary dataset or manufacturer engineering
Supports: Stored nominal width, length, eave height, roof pitch and slab thickness for this subject.
International Building Code and International Residential Code
International Code Council · Model code · Tier 1 — code authority, standards body, primary dataset or manufacturer engineering
Supports: The framework of adopted codes and local amendments that decides permitting, separation and opening requirements. Cited as the governing framework, never as a local requirement.
- Dimensional figures: Width, length, eave height, roof pitch and nominal slab thickness come from this platform's stored record for the subject. Floor area, perimeter, wall area, roof area, ridge height and slab volume are computed from those inputs rather than transcribed.
- Training bay fit: Counts, leftover strips and per-module areas are computed from the stored 100x120 record against this platform's 20 by 32 foot planning module for the fire and ems station building category, with 18 feet allowed for circulation. The module is editorial planning typology, not a code minimum or an engineered clearance.
- Allocation model: Zone shares come from this platform's use typology for commercial and customer-facing operations and are applied arithmetically to the stored 120-foot length.
- Allocation and layout models: Layout splits are arithmetic on the stored footprint, published as example allocation models. They are not survey findings and do not describe what buyers most often choose.
- Clearance and opening guidance: Clearance and opening statements are planning guidance. Final dimensions depend on the selected door system, header detail and the manufacturer's engineering for the building.
Methodology notes
- Prices: No price figure appears on this page. Cost data is published on this platform only with a documented inclusion basis, a collection date and a named source.
Drawn to scale
Plans and dimensions
Every drawing below is generated from the exact dimensions for this building, so proportions and areas are accurate.
Compare 100x120 fire and ems station building configurations
Review the allocation models for this footprint side by side, then estimate the configuration you intend to build.