June 6, 2007

Mayor moves to improve fire station

By Leslie Friday/staff writer
GateHouse News Service

Urgent cries from the Newton firefighters may not be falling on deaf ears.

Mayor David Cohen filed two requests with the Board of Aldermen last week in support of fire station repairs, in the sum of $2.6 million, in response to public outcry about the city’s ailing fire stations.

In his Monday, June 4, press conference, Cohen lauded the Newton Fire Department for its “outstanding record of protecting public safety.”

“I have said time and time again that when the bell rings, there is no one you’d rather trust your life and property to than the men and women of the Newton Fire Department,” Cohen said.

Fire Station 4 on Crafts Street is slated to receive the first makeover, with the mayor filing a request for bonding worth $1.97 million from the Board of Aldermen. Chief Joseph LaCroix and Building Commissioner Nick Parnell helped select Station 4 as the first to receive repairs, Cohen said.

Cohen said the process for choosing the station should not be the focus of the discussion.

“What’s most important is that we have the funds to move forward with renovation,” Cohen said.

Choosing Station 4 was an obvious move to LaCroix, since windows have already been replaced at the facility and work is starting on the roof.

The chief said Station 7 is on deck for renovation, with roof repairs scheduled to begin within the next couple of weeks.

“I want to get [the stations] done once and get them completed,” LaCroix said. “It just makes sense if you already started at one station to button it up.”

Refurbishing each station could take anywhere from nine months to a year, LaCroix said. He thought a more definite timeline will emerge once the first station is complete.

“Unfortunately, whenever you’re working in an existing building and opening up walls, you always find things that you never anticipated,” LaCroix said.

The mayor credited Sen. Cynthia Creem and Rep. Ruth Balser, D-Newton, for pushing through an extension of an interest-free loan from the state that the city has received since 1996.

The loan came after 11 firefighters were injured in an explosion at the HC Starck Company in 1993.

Further discussions on remaining fire station repairs will continue with the Board of Aldermen’s Subcommittee on Fire Stations, Cohen said.

Fire union President Fran Capello had not read the mayor’s proposals before the TAB’s deadline; however, he was pleased that Cohen heard firefighters’ and aldermen’s requests.

“I’m just kind of glad that we’re getting something done,” Capello said.

The union has not been involved in fire station repair discussions with the executive office so far, Capello said. He wanted to see a detailed plan of each station, includingsuch items as windows, heating and electrical work, before the city moves forward.

“I hope that we’re involved in the process,” Capello said.

Cohen also requested from aldermen roughly $672,000 for life and safety, or Tier 1, improvements in all six fire stations by the end of the calendar year.

Rehabbing the city’s tired fire stations arrived at center stage with the release of the fire station report on April 20.

The report’s authors, RDK Engineers of Boston, listed repair priorities according to a three-tiered system addressing stations’ needs with regard to mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems, as well as some building exterior repairs.

Tier 1 improvements cover urgent safety issues and repairs to a non-operating piece of equipment or system that is code-required. RDK projected that Tier 1 work would cost $100,000 per station, for a total of $600,000. 

Considering all the fire stations’ needs, community activist Neal Fleisher said the mayor’s proposals are not enough.

“I think it’s an overdue response to the obvious, which is they need to get fixed,” Fleisher said. “[Cohen] needs a plan in place that will address all of the stations.”

Fleisher, who organized the “Support of Firefighters” lawn sign campaign, said the mayor had the preliminary report on fire stations in his hands last year, but chose to do nothing.

‘I think it’s obvious that he’s been dragging his feet,” Fleisher said.

The fire department’s plight came to life when firefighters and their supporters arrived en masse at the Board of Aldermen’s May 16 public hearing on the budget.

One by one, advocates spoke of insufficient equipment — such as flashlights and chainsaws — and the shaky status of some of the department’s engines and ladder trucks.

LaCroix, who was not present at the meeting, later addressed firefighters’ claims, saying some were misleading or completely erroneous.

With the impassioned pleas of firefighters still ringing in their ears, aldermen passed three budget and capital plan resolutions to address fire station and equipment needs.

One asked the executive office to conduct a independent review of fire department equipment; another requested that one pump and one ladder truck slated for purchase in fiscal 2009 be bumped up to FY08; yet another asked the mayor to begin repairs to the city’s fire stations.

Cohen promised firefighters the $672,000-worth of Tier 1 improvements before the fiery public hearing in late May. His request on Station 4 is a recent addition to his plan in addressing fire station repairs.