For the better part of two decades, fire personnel have been forced to function in a cramped facility that was antiquated in the 20th century and is inadequate for the 21st, according to public safety officials. For years, the fire department has been struggling with space constraints. Trucks are fit inside the station so tightly that many of the doors to the trucks and ambulances cannot be opened inside without striking a wall or another vehicle.
Equipment is packed into every available space, and there are only two storage closets.
The fire department occupies 4,900 square feet of floor space, which includes the area housing all equipment and apparatus. The building does not have shower facilities and also lacks required decontamination washing areas. The Fire Department is looking to construct a facility with floor space in the range of 22,000 square feet, with 14,000 square feet more for the Police department, and additional space for a dispatch center. The most cost-effective plan of construction, said Chief Carrier, is to house both departments in one facility. The goal of the building study committee is to conceive a facility that is based on the future, not on the present.