A throwback to the past: Tiny Fire Station 4 needs to be replaced

by Mark Jahne

Editor

The Newington Volunteer Fire Department has four active stations strategically located in various parts of town. There is also a fifth station that is home to the department’s cadet program and serves as a base for the Newington Retired Firefighters Association.

Station 4 is the oldest and, by far, the smallest. That creates problems and is the reason why the Board of Fire Commissioners is requesting a more than $7 million referendum to replace this antiquated structure with a modern fire house.

“Welcome to the 1950s,” Brian Whelan joked while standing in front of the building on Dix Avenue near the New Britain city line. He is the chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners.

He said that because the structure was built in the 1950s when fire apparatus was smaller and calls for service were less than they are today. The single bay is so small that none of the other engines or ladder trucks in the department could fit inside.

Fire Station 4 on Dix Avenue is more than 70 years old. The Board of Fire Commissioners wants it to be replaced with a new structure. (submitted photo)

The office is tiny and there are two small bathrooms, neither of which has a shower. This station was constructed in 1954 to serve the Seymour Park Fire District. It’s so close to the town line that one cannot drive there without briefly leaving Newington and passing through a small piece of New Britain.

Capt. Ed Patz is the senior officer at Station 4. He has served there for 30 years, with a brief break along the way. Despite the challenges, or perhaps because of them, the volunteer firefighters who serve out of this station are a close-knit group.

There are 22 volunteer firefighters and two cadets assigned to Station 4.

“The guys are very close down here. We’re overdue [for a new fire house]. This should have been done 10 years ago,” he said. “The truck was custom built to fit this firehouse” and the result is a building that does not meet federal occupational safety and health standards or fire industry standards.

Fire Station 4 was constructed in the 1950s to serve a corner of town that was then known as the Seymour Park Fire District. (submitted photo)

It’s the smallest of the front-line fire engines in town and carries as much equipment as possible, but not as much as the other engines. They can’t park any of the other ladder trucks or engines in this bay. That also becomes a problem when NFD is fully committed to an emergency and a fire department comes from another city or town to temporarily staff Station 4.

The town’s other fire engines can carry six volunteer firefighters to a call. The Station 4 engine only has seating for five.

The firefighters can gather in a day room at the rear of the building that was an addition constructed by former members. It cost $1,500 back then to build from the ground up. There is a small kitchen. Some of the plumbing consists of original pipes and parts.

“There’s nowhere for them to shower, nowhere they can wash their gear,” Whelan said.

Firefighters often return from calls dirty and sweaty. Gear can be contaminated by a wide variety of chemicals and other pollutants.

“We have had no major renovations to this building,” Fire Chief Jeff Trommer said. “The proposed price right now is roughly $7.7 million” to build an entirely new station. He added that it would be less expensive to build a new station rather than renovate the existing structure because of its advanced age.

“This is not a want. This is a need.”

He also said that NFD has been looking to replace this building for more than 10 years and is hopeful that voters will support the plans. The Public Municipal Building Committee devised a plan that would construct a new station with two bays large enough to house modern apparatus. It would also have two floors as opposed to the current one.

That would provide sleeping quarters, a larger kitchen, showers, restrooms for men and women, and an elevator to make everything compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. A new building would meet all the basic needs for that location.

That lack of renovations includes the roof, windows and emergency generator. He added that it also doesn’t meet National Fire Protection Association standards. The referendum is expected to be held on Election Day, which is Nov. 3 this year. Voters will be at the polls to select candidates for state and federal offices.

Trommer said that back in the 1950s local taxpayers fought to have this station constructed. Replacing it has become even more important because nearby Central Connecticut State University is considering an expansion of its campus into Newington.

“The building committee did a fantastic job. This will be a building that will last us 50-plus years,” he added.

“It’s definitely not a want. It’s a need,” Whelan said. “We have an obligation to protect the citizens” and that is becoming increasingly more difficult to do in that section of town.

It would also be the closest fire facility to a train station that is proposed for construction along the railroad tracks that pass beneath Cedar Street a few miles away

.

“We’re going through that process,” Mayor Jon Trister said of holding a referendum to ask the public to fund a new fire station. “We need the infrastructure improvement.”

A public hearing was tentatively scheduled as this issue went to press.

“It’s a very old station and modern apparatus doesn’t fit. It’s a big issue,” he said. “It was built in the ‘50s and it’s never been renovated. Because of the size of the item, we have to go to referendum” under the requirements of the Town Charter.

If voters approve the proposal, the town will borrow money in the bond market to perform the work. Trister explained that the town is in a comfortable place to do so.

“This keeps us well under our debt limit,” he said.

He agreed with the fire department that Station 4 needs to be up to the challenge of responding to emergencies along the Fenn Road and Cedar Street corridor. There is a lot of construction taking place in that area including a large apartment complex.

Trommer said the public has demonstrated its support for this project. If the referendum is successful, it will take an estimated 18 months to build the new Station 4.

The Newington Fire Department is always looking for volunteers. It currently has 92 members, more than many surrounding towns, but can use more. Teenagers can join the cadet program at the age of 14 and are eligible to attend the state fire academy to acquire official Firefighter 1 certification at 17. NL