New PA Station Will Replace 19th-Century Firehouse

Nov. 6—For years, City Councilman Stratton Marmarou would buttonhole mayors, lawmakers and other elected officials to ensure they understood the importance of getting a new fire station built in the northeast Reading neighborhood in the center of his district.

The 19th-century firehouse that is still in use at Ninth and Marion streets lacks space, safety features and amenities required by today's firefighters to effectively and safely do their jobs, he would tell them.

"Every time he sees me his finger goes out like this," state Sen. Judy Schwank said Friday, pointing her index finger straight ahead. "(He says) I want to talk to you. I need a word with you.'"

The words "Ninth and Marion" will always be associated with Marmarou, the senator said during the groundbreaking ceremony for the new station, estimated to cost $9 million.

"You were totally on this project for so many years," Schwank said. "And this morning, you explained the story to me of, you know, bringing your wife in here to look at the facility when you became a new councilman.

"Over those 15 years you continued to always beat the drum one for our firefighters who are public safety employees but certainly for the community you represent. So Strat, many thanks to you. You made it happen."

Marmarou, 88, said the only reason he decided to run for re-election this year, a contest he lost to a man nearly 70 years his junior, was because it was his wife's dying wish. She wanted him to see that the project made it across the finish line.

As he nears his final month in office, Marmarou thanked Mayor Eddie Moran and his administration, fellow council members, several of whom were in attendance, for finally getting the project on the starting blocks.

Schwank said it's an investment worth making not only for the public safety but for the overall well-being of the neighborhood.

"An investment like this will really propel this community, this neighborhood, into the future," she said. "It's those kinds of things that are the building blocks of what will make our city even better than it is now, and I'm really happy to see all of these things occurring."

While the buildings surrounding the 1887 firehouse probably don't look all that much different from what the neighborhood appeared a century ago, the senator said, the needs of public safety organizations have changed.

What was formerly an independent volunteer fire company is now part of the Reading Fire Department, consisting of career firefighters who are employed by the city, and staff the building around the clock.

"This facility will give our firefighters cutting edge technology and give them some of the amenities that they deserve in order for them to be able to serve us as best as they can," Schwank said.

The station will be built on the northeast corner of Ninth and Marion streets on what was originally a grade school but in later times an asphalt paved tot lot owned by the city.

The old station will be demolished to make room for the relocated playground.

Plans for a new Ninth and Marion fire station was a proposal that was previously shelved several times over disputes over location. The previous mayor, Wally Scott, was reluctant to tear down the 19th-century firehouse, citing its historic value.

When the project finally went to bid, Scott rejected them, then fired his managing director.

Marmarou said he first visited the station shortly after he was elected nearly 15 years ago. He and his wife stopped in the station while on a tour of his council district.

His wife had to use the restroom and was horrified by cockroaches and some kind of growth coming through the walls.

"I made up my mind, I was going to try to do something," he said. "But for the next 14 years I was fighting every administration. I thought I had it completed a couple of years ago, but every time I thought they were going to do something, someone would kill it."

State Rep. Manny Guzman also thanked Marmarou for his persistent advocacy, and said Friday's benchmark is proof that the American government process works, even though some proposals take years to cross the finish line, when all levels of government pull together.

"Councilman, it took years, it took a lot of years," he said to Marmarou, who was seated between the senator and mayor in the front row under the tent that was erected on the future home of the new firehouse. "It took a lot of heartache and discussion, and quite frankly I think any of us that are elected officials in this room would love to one day like to have an accomplishment like this, that after it's all said and done, you know, we did something concrete for our years of service."

Guzman, who grew up in Reading, said Marmorou made it known to the new mayor that the firehouse needed to be a priority, and praised the mayor for putting it high on his agenda.

The new station will cover a footprint that is more than three times larger than the existing station, Fire Chief William I. Stoudt Jr. said.

It will provide the ability to house a spare apparatus, which could be deployed as needed in the neighborhood or to assist in multi-alarm fires in other neighborhoods, as well as an ambulance.

It will include a generator that can power the station during an outage and a modern fitness area that will allow personnel to work out while on duty.

"This station will not only allow the department to protect and serve the citizens of the northeast section of the city," Stoudt said, "but it gives the firefighters who work in it a modern station that provides for both their physical and mental well-being."

Stoudt said he attended a fire-station design symposium in 2016 in Raleigh, N.C.

"One of the concepts that was presented over and over is the zoning of areas within the station breaking them into hot, warm and cold zones," the chief said, "that addresses the need to separate the living quarters and space from the areas that store the apparatus and the firefighters' personal protective equipment.

"This is to provide for the health and safety of firefighters during the time they are in the station and will also add a decontamination area for the personal protection equipment."

The chief said it had been a highly collaborative project and thanked the project team led by Boyle Construction Management and the architectural firm, Manns Woodward Studios, as well as the fire department's own internal design team that has been meeting with the Boyle and the architects for 18 months.

Moran said he, too, was on the receiving end of Marmarou's pointing finger, before and after he was elected.

"I did get to tour (the station) and I immediately realized I had to commit and do everything that I could possibly do to make this happen," the mayor said. "So after nearly a decade of planning, designing, negotiating, contracting and funding, the Ninth and Marion community will finally have its new firehouse.

"A new fire station represents fresh beginnings and the opportunity for firefighters to serve our residents better."

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