ORLEANS, MA -- You know how that nice little starter home you bought isn't so comfy now that you've got a full size family?
Well, that's kind of what's happened to the Orleans Fire Department. Expensive life saving and fire fighting equipment is stored in corners, nooks and crannies and even outside in what looks like trash bins. And that's just one of the issues at the station.
"The station was built in 1987," noted Chief Anthony Pike. "The builder went out of business. They cut 18 feet off the building to save $160,000 so all the capturable space has been exhausted. We've been out of space for a decade.
Orleans officials had proposed a $100,000 feasibility study for renovation or replacement of the station and town meeting approved it but voters turned it down 711-673 on May 21, as a Proposition Two and a Half override ballot question.
"What I do now is look at what modern stations look like, in Chatham and Brewster," Pike said. "When we're [looking to order] heavy trucks we have to make sure they're short enough to fit in the station. Square footage-wise we're the smallest fire station on the Cape."
While the station may be smaller than the rest it looks sharp. The walls have a Romanesque feel reminiscent of a classic design by H.H. Richardson.
The tower, which originally was used to hang the cotton jacketed fire hoses to dry out, also allowed for training with ladders.
But personnel has grown to the point there's no room left for lockers, and rooms are crowded. Equipment has kept apace.
"Can I store some equipment at the old DPW" Pike asked. "Absolutely not. Emergency equipment has to be nearby. If there is one benefit to a small facility everything is close by."
To the point where it is piled into the corners against the walls of meeting rooms, staff rooms, office space.
"We're looking for solutions and those containers (outside) are not it," Pike told the selectmen. "We can no longer put things in them to rust and rot."
Orleans is growing.
"When I started we shared a building with the police department," Pike said.
The department got its new building, 32 years ago, but it now is limited. The location, down in a gully and blocked in by school and private property that prevents expansion, isn't ideal either. A long awaited traffic signal at the driveway top on the Eldredge Parkway may soon arrive and that will reduce the risk of accidents as the ambulances exit. The station might look good but that's not enough.
"We need someone who doesn't have a dog in the fight to tell us what direction we should be going in," Pike declared. "The building no longer supports its mission as a life saving agency. Its age is inconsequential. We don't use the outside we use the inside. If we have to hire staff and we don't have anymore space to put them."
That's why he asked for the feasibility study. But one issue will be how to expand on the site, there is little land – the regional school system controls the adjacent property.
Brewster built its new station behind the old one, and it remained occupied during construction. Orleans' firefighters might have to relocate, unless an expansion could somehow be cobbled around them. In any case nothing will happen soon.
"We've got a dedicated staff. They make it work," Pike said.
But as he noted the roof is leaking, the air quality is poor, walk-in medical testing and treatment shares space with storage boxes. The station had a staff of 12 when it opened. Now they're handling 3,000 calls a year with five people a shift (compared to three in 1987) and 20 staffers.
"Our needs have gotten more complex and our delivery of emergency medical services more comprehensive in the last three decades," Pike said. "Our core mission has changed. On one out of four calls we have multiple calls at the same time and that's concerning. If we're understaffed EMTs come in from Eastham, Brewster, Harwich. [In winter] we have to have a snowplow here 24 hours so we can get up the hill."
He'd just like to have a study done to see what is possible. The feasibility study is expected to go before voters again at some point.
"This is not an aesthetic project. It's purely functional. I didn't pull this out of thin air. It's important to bring in an engineer to tell us how much space we really need. We want to be transparent and responsible for the taxpayers," Pike said. "Advanced lifesaving has to be prioritized."
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