Firefighters battle blight of firehouse

By JESSICA D’AMICO
Staff Writer

 PHOTO BY FRANK WOJCIECHOWSKI PHOTO BY FRANK WOJCIECHOWSKI As Fire Chief Rob Donnan stands in Metuchen’s timeworn firehouse explaining the building’s shortcomings, a fat drop of water falls from the ceiling as if to provide evidence.

“A firehouse should be a lifeboat,” he said. “It should be a place where people know they can go that’s safe.”

Instead, the volunteer firefighters who place their lives on the line to protect the safety of others must contend with unsafe conditions in their own headquarters at 500 Middlesex Ave.

The shiny red trucks juxtapose their surroundings. Along the walls, tarps cover pricy equipment to protect it from the extensive roof leaks.

In two areas, firefighters have rigged contraptions to thwart the water that creeps its way inside. One consists of a funnel fashioned from a tarp above a garbage can with a hose attached to the bottom; the other is an indoor gutter that serves to protect a $40,000 air compressor.

 More than 100 years old, Metuchen’s firehouse is fraught with issues, including a crumbling structure and leaking roof. Below, right: Fire Chief Rob Donnan points out a tarp used to protect equipment from leaks.  PHOTO BY FRANK WOJCIECHOWSKI More than 100 years old, Metuchen’s firehouse is fraught with issues, including a crumbling structure and leaking roof. Below, right: Fire Chief Rob Donnan points out a tarp used to protect equipment from leaks. PHOTO BY FRANK WOJCIECHOWSKI “Probably this building is housing $4 [million] or $5 million in equipment,” Donnan said, adding that firetrucks cost about $1 million each, with pumpers going for about half that price.

Wooden lockers that don’t provide the airflow for gear to dry stand only a couple of feet from a truck, giving the volunteers scant space to get suited up before a call. Adding to the juggling act is an exhaust hose firefighters have to dodge as they don their gear.

“We’re physically just out of space,” Donnan said. “All a guy has to do is lose his balance for a second and he’s under the wheel of the truck and he’s crushed.” Space isn’t just sparse on the floor. The water-stained ceilings hover just a few feet above the trucks.

 PHOTO BY JESSICA D’AMICO/STAFF PHOTO BY JESSICA D’AMICO/STAFF “These guys have to crawl around on top of the trucks,” Donnan said.

To maintain the vehicles, firefighters have to pull them out onto the asphalt apron of the firehouse, but only partway; if pulled completely out of the bays in which they are parked, the trucks would block Middlesex Avenue.

Donnan said the department gets 25 to 40 years out of a firetruck by regularly washing and maintaining the vehicle.

“But this firehouse is not conducive to that behavior,” he said.

Mayor Thomas Vahalla provided the example of firefighters out in freezing temperatures on New Year’s Day working on a vehicle.

Comfort for the firefighters inside the building is yet another story.

 PHOTO BY FRANK WOJCIECHOWSKI PHOTO BY FRANK WOJCIECHOWSKI “Every year, the heating breaks in the winter; every year, the air conditioning breaks in the summer,” Donnan said.

Around the outside of the building, open wounds of its crumbling construction are apparent. The main supports, composed of terra cotta, are giving way. Bricks inserted as Band-Aids over the years are also deteriorating.

It’s no wonder. The aged firehouse was never meant to serve that purpose, according to Tyreen Reuter, chair of the borough’s Historic Preservation Committee and a member of the Firehouse Task Force that Vahalla assembled.

“Built in 1914, the building was an automotive service and repair garage for a private company,” Reuter explained during a presentation before the Borough Council in May.

In 1953, Metuchen took ownership of the place — which was already falling into disrepair — renovating and retrofitting it for use by the borough. The hope was that it would last 40 to 50 years, Reuter said.

“The building is past its life expectancy,” Borough Engineer Tom Herits, a 30-year member of the Fire Department, told the council.

According to Donnan, an addition built onto the firehouse years ago is to blame for the current rotting of the roof.

“It created a valley in the middle … where the water and snow collect,” he said, adding that if someone stood on one of the worst parts of the roof, it would cave in.

Patches and repairs over the years have not been sufficient, he said.

Herits told the council that the task force had a proposal to do a structural survey of the building, and was planning to also have an asbestos and mold survey done, along with checking the plumbing, heating and ventilation.

“I’m concerned that if the structural survey comes back and says the building isn’t safe that we’d have nowhere to go,” Donnan said.

He added that the idea of using tents has been considered, but was tossed out because firetrucks must be kept at a temperature of 50 degrees or higher.

Wherever the Fire Department goes, it must be centrally located. Along with being key to getting to calls quickly, Donnan said a central location is important because close to half the department’s membership lives outside of Metuchen.

In addition, the new building would need a larger footprint and have to be two stories tall, he said.

“And no one can deny that traffic and other issues make moving around our area more and more difficult,” Donnan told the council during the presentation, adding that the new developments in town will only add to the issue.

Vahalla said more details must be hashed out by the task force, and that those should be available by late summer or early fall.

“There’s a whole lot of things to be worked out,” he said.

While costs have yet to be estimated, the mayor said the new firehouse could be paid for in part by grant funds or through the sale of the firehouse and EMS buildings, because the plan is to house both organizations in the new structure.

“This is not a Fire Department issue; this is a community issue,” Councilman Jay Muldoon said.

And for the nine-year chief who spends about 30 hours a week working in his volunteer post, being engaged with the community is a big part of his modus operandi.

Attending a variety of events — whether hosing down kids at block parties, talking to them about fire safety at Home Depot or distributing what adds up to about 4,000 children’s fire helmets each year — Donnan and his crew seem to earn their self-given moniker, “Your Metuchen Fire Department.”

And Donnan downplays the life-threatening nature of a firefighter’s duties, pointing out that most of the department’s 350-400 calls per year are responding to “smells and bells.”

“But the reality is that when we’re called on to do our job, it’s probably more dangerous than anything anyone will experience in their entire life,” he said.

For more information on the Metuchen Fire Department, visit metuchenfd.com and find it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.