www.wexfordvfc.com

New Station Project

A History

Our current main station on Wexford Bayne Road has served our needs for many years, but we have simply outgrown it. The mission of the fire service has expanded requiring more equipment than the traditional fire hose and axes, which in turn requires larger trucks. Planning for a new main station began many years ago, and we decided early on that the station would still need to be located near the busy Route 19 corridor. The layout of the property that our current station is on makes it difficult to construct a new building, so we started to look for property with the assistance of Township of Pine officials.

An agreement was made between the Township and the Oxford Development Company for a parcel of land on their property to be donated for the purpose of a fire station. When Dominic Gigliotti and Pine Development, LLC took over development of the Oxford property for the Village project, he agreed to donate the parcel of land at the corner of North Chapel Drive and Wexford Road (Route 910). Mr. Gigliotti also offered to have his excavation contractor prepare the site while they were still working on other areas of the development site.

Current Status

The Township has approved funding that will allow us to have our final construction documents started. Progress continues, and we have recently decided to move our start of construction from this fall to March 2009. This will help eliminate construction delays that are typically associated with the winter months.

The Building Concept

As mentioned earlier, we are trying to design a station that will serve our current needs and allow for future growth without having to make costly renovations to the building. The station features four apparatus bays, three of which are drive through. A wash area is included that complies with current State environmental laws pertaining to waste water. The bays are wider than our current garage to improve working space around the trucks, and safety for personnel movement through the garage.

A training area has been incorporated as part of a hose-drying tower. Firefighters will be able to use the tower for training such as confined space rescue, hose advancement, and stand pipe operations. The tower goes down into a partial basement that can also be used for training exercises.

A two-story administration area is also planned. This part of the building will include offices, and a meeting area/class room on the first floor. A fitness area along with additional storage space will be provided in a partial basement. The second floor will incorporate dorm rooms and related living facilities. This area will help us enhance our current live-in program that has been started at our Babcock substation on Babcock Boulevard. Volunteer fire departments across the country are finding live-in programs to be a way to attract young volunteers, and help sustain a volunteer force longer into the future. The living facilities will also help us transition to the eventuality of having to staff the station with career firefighters in the future.

The station is also planned to function as an emergency evacuation shelter. An emergency generator will keep the building fully functional in the event of a power outage or other widespread utility failure. The planning committee has also investigated the possibility of tapping into a well so the building will have two independent water sources for emergency preparedness purposes. If these plans make it into the final construction of the building, the station will be one of the few fully self-sustaining shelters in the area.

Support Needed

We are very excited to be so close to the start of this project. This station will be a great benefit to the operations of the Wexford Volunteer Fire Company, and the fire protection for the Township of Pine and surrounding communities for a long time to come. With that said, we can certainly use support from the community. We are welcoming support in the form of monetary donations, volunteering of expertise or services, or simply words of encouragement to our membership and the Township of Pine Supervisors.

Anyone wishing to get involved in this project in any of the ways listed above is encouraged to leave a message at (724) 935-1491. A member of our building committee will contact you soon after we receive your message.