The US Air Force (USAF) personnel form the 92nd Civil Engineer Squadron and the 92nd Contracting Squadron are demolishing 1950s-era munitions bunkers at Fairchild Air Force Base as part of an effort to reduce the USAF’s building footprint.
The new development also supports the USAF by saving around $3.5m in the process.
Initially, five separate projects to demolish the bunkers were estimated at a cost of $6.5m, but later consolidation of those into one allowed the USAF to save half the amount, supporting its ‘Make Every Dollar Count’ campaign.
92nd CES project manager Jay Logan said: "One of the reasons for this project is to help meet the Air Force’s goal of removing 20% of our building footprint by the year 2020."
"At first, we thought it would be quite expensive on a square-foot basis to remove these reinforced concrete structures.
"Fortunately, with some help from the contracting office packaging this project, we were able to get a great bid from a contractor well experienced in this type of demolition."
The project started in summer 2014, and is currently in its second phase.
The third phase, which includes closing out the contract and final submittals, is expected to begin in December and complete in April next year.
Part of Strategic Air Command earlier, Fairchild AFB used these bunkers to store munitions as part of the mission.
The current project will demolish 33, 60-year-old munitions storage bunkers and portions of four different roads throughout the grounds.
Image: A member of a demolition team picks up remaining concrete from a demolished munition bunker at Fairchild AFB. Photo: courtesy of U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Mackenzie Richardson.
