In just over a year, the Lexington Fire Department will have a brand new headquarters, one that will keep the town's firefighters safer and more prepared than ever before.
The new station is being built at 45 Bedford St., the same site that housed the old station for decades. Last week, workers finished the foundation, and now steel beams have sprung up, creating an outline of the new structure.
It will feature a bevy of new additions with the goal of making life safer and more convenient for firefighters, Chief Derek Sencabaugh said. Perhaps the most prominent addition is that of a training platform and tower. Previously, the department used various buildings and other locations around town for training. Now, their station will be equipped with areas where firefighters can use their ladders, hoses, and other equipment to test their readiness. They'll even be able to rappel down the tower, Sencabaugh said.
"It's going to afford us a lot more flexibility," he added.
The building will be divided into zones, a key safety feature. The zones will specify where firefighters can go immediately after coming back from a scene. When returning to the station, Sencabaugh said, firefighters are frequently covered with ash and other materials that can contain cancer-causing carcinogens. Until recently, firefighters would usually remove their gear in the same area where they relaxed and ate, spreading chemicals throughout the station's air.
For years, Sencabaugh said, the sootier and dirtier you were, the better. He remembers firefighters wearing it like a badge of honor. Now, a big push has been made in fire departments across the country to contain and eliminate contaminants.
"Everything that causes cancer is in those clothes, and you're bringing it into the living quarters and contaminating the area," Sencabaugh said. "Cancer is such a big problem in the fire service. We're realizing it like crazy now."
The new station will have more showers as well as airlock chambers returning firefighters must go through before entering the rest of the building. In addition, all gear will be stored in a room with a separate ventilation system.
The building, which Sencabaugh said will cost around $19 million, is planned to be almost twice the size of the original headquarters.
The old station had myriad problems, he said. The basement would sometimes let in groundwater, which needed to be pumped out. It was also not big enough to fit all the department's staffers. The fire prevention office was located in a trailer behind the old station, which was small and not climate controlled. The garages barely fit the fire trucks they housed, and gear belonging in the garages needed to be stored elsewhere.
"The other building was so undersized, there were a lot of issues with it. It's time," Sencabaugh said.
Now, the fire department will have four large garages with ample space. The doors will open sideways, as opposed to the traditional vertical garage doors that could sometimes impede the vision of the people driving the trucks. When maintenance is required, fire trucks need to be opened up, which takes up a lot of space, Sencabaugh said. Previously, the trucks needed to be taken outside whenever someone wanted to work on them. Now, there will be enough room in the garages for them to open up fully.
The fire prevention office will be housed on the first floor, right near the main entrance, making it accessible to residents. It will be near a large training room that can double as an emergency headquarters for town staff. The first floor will also have a memorial dedicated to the department's history. This memorial will also serve as a permanent home to the antique fire truck used ceremonially by the department in parades.
The construction of a new fire department headquarters was approved in a town-wide vote in 2017. The project has been in the works for close to 20 years, Sencabaugh said. Planners initially explored moving the station's location, but ultimately decided to build it on the same location. This spot on Bedford Street gives the department access to two of the town's most important roads, and allows them to keep their response times short.
"We need to maintain response times. This location really works to keep those down," Sencabaugh said.
While construction goes on, the fire department is temporarily headquartered at 173 Bedford St.
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