New building
adds storage
for firehouse
JERRY WOLKOWITZ Construction workers hammer together the frame for the Freehold Fire Department’s new garage which will be located behind the department’s headquarters on West Main Street.
FREEHOLD — Right now it’s a construction site, but after the rubble is cleared, after the tractors and heavy equipment have been taken away, there will be a new building behind the fire department headquarters on West Main Street.
Freehold Fire Department personnel will soon be able to store firetrucks and other equipment in a new building which is under constructed behind the firehouse.
According to Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina, the building will be rectangular in shape and provide 3,700 square feet of space. The contractor for the project is Buckler Associates of East Bruns-wick. Bellina said the building being constructed will be ivory in color with a beige roof and a wood and aluminum exterior. He said similar types of structures have been used for auxiliary firehouse buildings in the area. The total cost of the project is $267,331.
According to Mayor Michael Wilson, the fire department’s original storage building was torn down last fall. The new structure, which will be built in sections and hopefully be ready by late spring or early summer, will have three bays. Wilson said the addition will be large enough to store trucks and alleviate some of the congestion that the fire department has been experiencing for a long time in its headquarters next to borough hall.
"It’s always been tight in the fire department," Wilson said. "Over the years the fire department has purchased new trucks and the newly constructed fire trucks are larger than the older models. This new building should alleviate the space problem in the department."
Wilson said the building was funded by money received from a Community Development Block Grant that, according to the mayor, Monmouth County Free-holder Ted Narozanick was instrumental in helping the borough to acquire.