By Anthony Rifilato
About 70 firemen responded to the scene at around 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21. The fire occurred on the second floor of the older portion of the building following a test of the headquarters' new electrical system. The fire was quickly contained and extinguished, fire officials said.
"It was more smoke than anything else," said one firefighter at the scene. "It's out."
Some firemen and other personnel were inside at the time of the fire, which started in the walls of the commissioner's board room. No one was injured, and fire officials described damage to the building as moderate. At the scene, a thin cloud of smoke cascaded to the first floor and was wafting out of the First Aid Company's truck bay as fire crews worked to make sure the fire was fully extinguished by opening holes in the walls and the roof.
Police blocked off Grand Avenue between Merrick Road and Prospect Street for about an hour. Power was temporarily shut down in the building, and 911 emergency calls were being routed to Nassau County.
Officials attributed the fire to a test of the building's new electrical system, which has been one of the main obstacles to the completion of the renovation and the expansion of headquarters, a project that was undertaken in 2002 in order to meet the department's growing need for space.
Two months ago, power was shut down in three-quarters of the building due to the electrical issues, which had halted some of the interior construction. Once the new electrical system was operational, fire officials had expected the work to commence and be finished in a couple of months.
Despite the fire, however, officials said they still expect the project to move ahead unimpeded, and said the building should be completed by early next year. The power is expected to be restored this week, and work is anticipated to resume on Dec. 8. But another test of the system has to be done in order to achieve that, though Baldwin Fire Commissioner Robert Quackenbush said another fire is highly unlikely. "We'll take steps to make sure that doesn't happen," he said.
This latest incident is one of many unforeseen snags that the department has had to contend with as it tries to move the $2.95 million project toward completion. The project is over schedule and over budget, according to fire commissioners, though they explained that, fiscally, the project is not out of control. No money has been transferred from its operating budget, which they said is illegal, and they maintain that they have enough in their building fund to make up for the shortfall.
"We have enough to cover the project without any problems," said Quackenbush. "Even though it's over budget, 10 percent is in line with a state [building] project."
A tour of the building
Just a day before the fire, Quackenbush and Fire Commissioner Frank Esposito gave the Herald a two-hour tour of the building and discussed some of the project's setbacks.
The commissioners said problems have ranged from a lack of coordination among the different building contractors to the continuous need to revise the project in order to keep up with an array of building codes and standards required by the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, among others. The blueprints for the project have had to be redrawn and resubmitted no fewer than five times.
"Originally it was supposed to take 13 months," said Quackenbush. "Almost right away, it became apparent that the project wasn't going to meet the deadline."
The project has been a source of criticism from those both inside and outside the fire department. Some residents and businesses have said that the project has restricted access to the parking lot on Merrick Road and has been a misuse of taxpayer dollars. Because of the construction, some of the department's volunteers have said their companies have lost rooms and facilities at headquarters and have not had their concerns addressed.
"I know a lot of [firemen] are disgruntled," said one fireman who did not want his name used. "A lot of them don't have a place to stay."
Unlike the seemingly on-schedule building project across the street for the expansion of the Baldwin Public Library, which the commissioners said has been an unfair comparison lately, the fire department headquarters has its own unique set of challenges. "Even though it felt out of control, we're not out of control," Quackenbush said. "We've done a nice job staying as close as we can."
For instance, the commissioners said, the latest blueprints called for double sheetrocking of the walls in parts of the building after a Nassau County fire inspector ordered them to do so. Another inspector said that the 75 water sprinkler heads installed in the building were not enough, and said the department must install 110. Also, in order to meet the demands of the ADA, a wheelchair ramp had to be installed inside.
"You're trying to make a building that was built in 1932 as safe and as up to code as today's buildings," said Quackenbush. "Ninety-nine percent of the [problems are] the age of the building and new laws."
One of the main problems has been trying to implement the new electrical system. It isn't compatible with the existing system, which powers the older portion of the building, the commissioners said, adding that they were told by the Long Island Lighting Company that the department can't run both systems simultaneously due to rules that prohibit two separate power sources.
"A 60-year-old generator is not going to power what we needed to do with this building," said Quackenbush.
But because it's a fire department, its occupants don't have the luxury of shutting down the old system. Headquarters has to be operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "We can't be without power," said Quackenbush.
Last week, the problem was supposed to be sorted out when the department was permitted by the Long Island Power Authority to run both systems at once after a new transformer was installed. Once that was resolved, construction could continue while the fire department did its job. But something went wrong during a test on a new generator.
"In order for a generator to be certified, it has to run for four hours," said Quackenbush. The four-hour test caused an exhaust pipe to overheat, which resulted in the fire, though Quackenbush said the cause is still being investigated.
Officials said they are aware of the criticism and the effect it's having on the department's morale, and that they are doing their best to rein in the project. But regardless of the difficulties, commissioners said that they are optimistic about the final result: a more modern and technologically efficient fire department.
They maintain that the safety of the community has not been compromised. During last summer's blackout, Quackenbush said, there were a number of emergency calls, including a serious house fire, that the department was ready for. "We don't miss a beat," he said. "Regardless of what's happening, we haven't suffered a bit."
Due to last week's fire, the Baldwin Fire Department's Board of Commissioners meeting will be held at the Sanitary District No. 2 office, at 2080 Grand Ave., on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m.
