GREENFIELD — Dozens of people embraced a beautiful fall morning Monday to watch the city break ground on a new fire station.
Mayor Roxann Wedegartner kicked off the ceremony at the former open-air market property on Main Street near Coombs Avenue before Fire Chief Robert Strahan addressed the crowd and welcomed speakers from the project’s consulting and design firm, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the city’s Fire Station Building Committee. The station at 41 Main St. is expected to be completed in a little more than a year at a cost of $21.7 million.
“What a great day for the firefighters. What a great day for Greenfield,” Wedegartner said, commenting that the station will be the Fire Department’s home for 50 to 75 years. “I’m really excited about this.”
The mayor thanked everyone involved in bringing the project to fruition, as did all the other speakers.
“I especially want to thank the USDA,” Wedegartner said. “And you probably wonder, ‘What’s the USDA got to do with a fire station?’ Well, they’re a very generous lot. They give out grants and loans for community-building projects and, lo and behold, they gave us $987,000. A grant — a grant, not a loan. It was extraordinary.”
The city’s firefighters are currently working out of a temporary facility on Hope Street. The complex consists of two dorm buildings, including a kitchen and meeting area, and two apparatus bays.
Following a blessing from the Rev. Tomasz Gorny, the Fire Department’s chaplain, Strahan thanked everyone who has helped with the project, including his accommodating firefighters.
“The firefighters that we have are the best firefighters that I’ve ever had the opportunity to work for. Their dedication and commitment to this city is top-notch,” Strahan said. “They have dealt with everything that’s been thrown at them and so I am proud that we are finally here.”
The chief said the new station is being designed with firefighters’ safety in mind. He said the facility will have isolated “dirty areas,” where firefighters returning from a call can safely decontaminate themselves and their gear “to keep carcinogens out of the living quarters.” Cancer is a leading cause of death among firefighters due to the contaminants they come into contact with in the line of duty.
Strahan also said the station will also have a large apparatus space, bunk rooms, an emergency operations center, a conference room, and administrative wings.
“It’s really going to be a community building, not just a fire station,” he said. “It’s also going to have a small museum, where we can celebrate the history of the Fire Department, with the centerpiece being the 1852 (hand-pumped fire engine) that was purchased originally for the city of Greenfield.”
Strahan mentioned his department responds to at least 3,500 emergency calls each year. The current station is at least 85 years old.
Dennis Ross, of H2M architects + engineers, spoke about the various spots examined for development before turning the podium over to Scott Soares, state director of the USDA’s Rural Development Southern New England, who said his agency’s objective is to help people develop safe communities in the rural United States.
“That’s really what we’re all about,” he said. “And using these funds to help make this happen is really why we’re here today.”
Robert “Butch” Hawkins and David Singer, co-chairs of the Fire Station Building Committee, then spoke, thanking those who made this project possible. Singer praised his co-chair’s “stubborn determination” to find a space for a new station.
“Butch deserves much credit for getting us all to this moment in time,” Singer said. “He was there when it first began, at least seven years ago, and has been relentless in his fight for the fire station and the Fire Department. ‘When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,’ has been his motto.”
Before the ceremonial groundbreaking, Singer also praised Strahan for intelligent leadership and sound judgment.
“The chief knows how to problem-solve with wisdom, sensitivity and instinct,” he said. “Without him, the project could have been lost a long time ago.”
Reach Domenic Poli at dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.