METUCHEN — As a task force weighs options for a site on which to build a replacement for the borough’s blighted firehouse, a recent blaze underlined the importance of Metuchen’s volunteer firefighters.
Fire Chief Rob Donnan and other members of the mayor’s task force again discussed the need for a new facility to house the Metuchen Fire Department during the Oct. 19 Borough Council meeting.
“We honor our volunteers, and we have to provide them with facilities to do the job they are trained to do,” Mayor Thomas Vahalla said.
Donnan gave a presentation that laid out the numerous reasons the current firehouse, which dates to 1914, is not only deficient but also dangerous.
A crumbling structure, a leaking roof that lacks stability, faulty bay doors and problems with the building’s infrastructure all contribute to the need.
“The building is literally falling apart,” Donnan said, adding that the building’s deficiencies are putting at risk close to $5 million in firefighting equipment.
For example, tarps and a makeshift indoor gutter divert leaking water from the roof away from pricey equipment, including $50,000 breathing air compressors, among other items.
More important than the expensive apparatus being at risk is the danger to firefighters’ lives at the aging firehouse.
The building’s outside asphalt aprons are too small for trucks to be pulled out onto them without overlapping into the street, and firefighters — along with passing traffic — are put in jeopardy when the vehicles need work, according to Donnan. Adding to the problem is that the truck bays are too low to allow firefighters to stand on top of the vehicles, forcing them to crawl around on top of the trucks.
“It’s not right,” Donnan said. “It’s not the way it should be.”
Alack of parking at the site — 13 spaces for more than 40 firefighters — forces the volunteers to park across Route 27 at Borough Hall, then battle traffic to cross the street on foot.
In addition, Donnan said, the problem of an inadequate number of gear lockers is exacerbated by a lack of space around them. With the lockers set alongside the trucks, firefighters face a tight squeeze and potentially hazardous situation while gearing up or shedding gear.
Insufficient ventilation in the lockers is another issue, as is the lack of locker rooms and showers, Donnan said, referencing contamination to which firefighters are often exposed during calls.
“Not only are we contaminated, but we’re taking it home to our homes and families,” Donnan said of firefighters’ inability to decontaminate at the firehouse.
“One of the huge things in the fire industry now is firefighter cancers,” he said. “There’s a list of, I think, 10 or 15 of what they call firefighter cancers that we die with at a much greater rate than the rest of the population, so actually decontamination and cleaning gear is really important.”
The issues with the decrepit firehouse don’t end there.
Borough Engineer Tom Herits, a 30-year member of the Fire Department and member of the task force, said a rough estimate for renovating the existing firehouse would be $1.8 million. Still, the undersized site on which it sits would remain a problem.
“So really, it wouldn’t be fully functional,” Vahalla said, adding that Franklin Township incurred significant costs while its firehouse was being refurbished, because trucks must be kept at a temperature between 50 and 60 degrees, making it necessary to house them in heated tents.
Regardless, Donnan said he thinks renovating the building would cost much more than Herits’ estimate.
Criteria for a new site include a minimum of 1.5 acres and a central location.
The task force identified 16 potential sites in town for a new firehouse, which the mayor and council will discuss in closed session at the Nov. 2 Borough Council meeting, Vahalla said.
“We can’t delay, because it’s only going to cost more and it’s only going to mean a possible crisis greater than we have now,” he said.
Rev. Mark McCreary of Second Baptist Church of Metuchen, another task force member, agreed.
“As many of us know, spaces in our town are being occupied swiftly,” he said. “This is a prime opportunity for us to secure what we believe is a prime location that we can develop what we believe is — coupled with the Police Department — the most valuable resource in this town, and that’s the Fire Department.”
If anyone needed proof of the Fire Department’s importance to the community, they got it in Vahalla’s praise for firefighters’ recent efforts.
Firefighters were on hand at the recent Metuchen Country Fair, with trucks on display and giveaways for children. They had to quickly leave the event, however, when a call came in about a fire on Newman Street in the Jefferson Park condominiums.
The firefighters’ quick action helped to save the family dog, Bella, who was hiding beneath a coffee table in the house, officials said.
“No one was hurt; no animal life was lost, but the family lost everything in the house,” Vahalla said, adding that help has already been forthcoming from the Fire Department, Police Benevolent Association, Metuchen High School and Borough Improvement League (BIL).
According to Vahalla, the family consists of a mother and father, along with three daughters: one in college, one in 10th grade and another in second grade. He added that Evan Robbins, a philanthropist and teacher at Metuchen High School, praised the two older daughters for their volunteer involvement in the community.
Help in the form of gift cards for local food, clothing and other stores would go a long way toward getting the family back on its feet, the mayor said.
“I would hope that this community shows the type of community that it is and comes together … to help this family that is in great need right now,” Vahalla said.
Donations can be dropped off at the BIL’s headquarters at the Old Franklin Schoolhouse, 491 Middlesex Ave., Metuchen.