Mass. Community Reopens Long Closed Fire Station

March 06--AMESBURY -- The memories from his more than 40 years as a call firefighter in Amesbury came back to Bill Ryan as he walked throughout the renovated Elm Street fire station.

Ryan was 23 years old when he joined the fire service after coming home from World War II in 1946.

"It's the same building; of course, they just painted it," Ryan said.

It took a bit more than a paint job to reopen the historic fire building that sat empty for 21 years.

Firefighters and family members celebrated the reopening of the station yesterday with a small ceremony and a blessing by the Rev. Robert M.J. Hagopian of First Congregational Church of Rowley and Rowley Fire Department chaplain.

Fire department personnel worked for almost a year to fix up the station. They started last spring when the fire department planned to use the station as a temporary base for firefighters while construction was under way.

Now, the town plans to keep the Elm Street station open on a permanent basis to give the department more room to work with so that the administration offices can remain on the first floor of the renovated fire department headquarters, avoiding the need for an elevator, which would have cost $500,000 to install.

The town spent close to $150,000 from a $2.4 million bond to reopen the Elm Street station.

That money went to pay for supplies for the station and utility work, such as electrical and heating and ventilation, while the bulk of the work came in the form of sweat equity from firefighters and fire command staff while off the clock.

"I'm absolutely impressed with the quality of the sweat equity," Mayor Thatcher Kezer said.

Fire Chief Jonathan Brickett said firefighters spent hours knocking down old walls, putting in Sheetrock, refinishing floors and refurbishing old floors.

"We had a core group of people -- firefighters and command staff -- that got together over here and decided to gut it out and put it back together," the chief said.

Much of the work that happened was on the second floor, where firefighters will spend a bulk of their time.

Most of the rooms are empty for now, but that will change when the fire department prepares to staff the station at 8 a.m. tomorrow.

Before offering a prayer for the new station, Hagopian commented that he drove by the Elm Street station many times and always wondered what the building looked like on the inside.

"I think everyone in the room understands what it means to service, and when you are able to revamp a firehouse in a community, in a neighborhood, how much that means to people who live here," Hagopian said.

Copyright 2012 - The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.