By: Carrie James
East Meadow district building fifth firehouse to accommodate ever-larger engines
Trying to fit an 11-foot, 6-inch truck through a 10-foot, 4-inch bay door has proved a major headache for the East Meadow Fire District over the past three years.
The district, however, has found its bottle of aspirin.
The East Meadow Fire District is about to add a fifth firehouse along East Meadow Avenue at Franklin Avenue. This station will house two of the engines now based at Station One, 197 East Meadow Ave., plus the to-be-purchased hook-and-ladder truck that forced the department to build the new station house.
"We looked into squaring off the bay doors, we talked about what would happen if we dug into the ground," said Robert Beck, chairman of the East Meadow Fire District's Board of Commissioners. "They said the building would probably collapse. It's not a matter of cutting off the roof and raising the roof [because of the second floor]."
Three years ago, Beck said the East Meadow Fire District knew it was time to replace their present hook-and-ladder truck at Station One. The truck is 25 years old and doesn't have the Occupational Safety and Health Act required cabin compartment that each fire engine now must feature.
"This is the truck that we've had all the problems with," Beck said referring to the old ladder engine, which gets its name from the 100-foot extendible ladder attached to the top. "All new fire trucks must have a cabin compartment. It's heated in the winter and air conditioned during the summer."
The problem, Beck said, is that these fire engines automatically come taller than their predecessors, and a heavy-duty rescue engine purchased five years ago barely fits through the 10-foot, 4-inch bay door. Add to that truck a ladder with a basket, and it just won't fit, he said.
After looking at building alteration options, such as squaring off the rounded bay doors, Beck said the only plan left was new construction. Even then, the board of commissioners tried to keep the fire engines at Station One.
"So what do we do, we go to the library [next door], and they said they would like to help us, but they already have problems with parking," Beck said. On the other side of the station sit homes, which the board said they wouldn't consider tearing down to expand the present station because they wouldn't want that to happen to their homes.
Just a couple blocks down the road, the Board of Commissioners purchased a roughly two-acre site, which they presented to the public as the new firehouse's future home. The land once housed the East Meadow Water Works company.
This fifth station will not replace Station One, but all the fire rescue machinery will be moved to the new house once completed, Beck said.
"This is one of the few fire houses that has character," he said about Station One, which also houses the fire district headquarters. The fire department and the community don't want to lose it. But the district needed a place to store the trucks. "Everything has been presented to the public. We had meetings here, with civic groups. Any taxpayer that had questions, we would bring them down here and show them how this [heavy-duty rescue] truck barely fits."
The East Meadow Fire District garnered enough public support to pass a $4-million referendum about 18 months ago. About $2.8 million will go toward construction of the 9,250-square-foot station, while $700,000 will cover the cost of the new hook-and-ladder truck. The remainder will be used to renovate Station One and make it handicapped-accessible, Beck said.
So far, the fire district has cleared the two acres for construction and will prepare them for a late May or early June groundbreaking.
In addition to three bays to hold the engines, the new station will be equipped with small meeting rooms, a kitchen and an all-purpose room, Beck said. The fire station was also designed as a drive-thru facility, in that the trucks won't have to back into bay compartments, but rather drive to the rear of the station house and pull in through the back door.
District officials also want to maintain the old fire station feel by constructing the station with rounded bay windows and a pitch roof, Beck said.
"All around the lot there will be a white, opaque fence also," he said. "We wanted to blend it in with the rest of the houses around us."
Architect William Johnke designed the new firehouse, and Park East, a construction management firm, will oversee the building project, which should take about seven months.
The new engine, Beck said, would take just as long to construct. He hopes both will be ready at the same time.
Station One will continue to house the department's rescue squad, which includes two ambulances, Beck said. It's also possible district officials will expand the rescue squad once they have the available space. Headquarters will also remain at the northern East Meadow Avenue location.
