LEBANON, N.H. (WCAX) – Work has started to replace one of two fire stations in Lebanon New Hampshire. Officials say the new facility will keep the community safer, as well as the firefighters who respond to emergencies.
Both fire stations in Lebanon, New Hampshire, are outdated, too small and need to be replaced.
Work on Station 1, off the green, has begun. Once the asbestos is removed from the firehouse, the building will be torn down. The new station will add an additional 10,000 square feet on a similar footprint.
“It doesn’t host our modern fire apparatus, the size of our apparatus,” Lebanon Fire Chief Jim Wheatley said. “Our staffing has increased, we don’t have room for our staffing. And it doesn’t meet health and safety concerns.”
Concerns that mostly deal with how firefighters clean up after contamination, which the chief explains during a tour of the temporary fire operations at the city’s public works facility. The current system– similar to the old station– doesn’t have a place to separate dirty materials and clothing after a call.
“We’ll have a separation. When they come back with contaminated equipment, there will be a separate area where that personnel goes and they decon,” Wheatley said.
Lebanon’s Station 2 faces the same challenges but after pushback from the public over possible locations, that project has been put on the backburner.
Station 1′s facelift comes with a price tag of $23.6 million but the chief says safety for his staff and the public will be vastly improved.
“One of the leading causes of deaths in firefighters is occupational cancer and we are trying to reduce that risk,” Wheatley said.
City officials did a study of response times in preparation for the construction and they say the public will not notice an interruption in service during the 20 months the project is underway.