Jim Sullivan
The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.
(TNS)
Oct. 17—NEWBURYPORT — After just over a year of construction, the $9.2 million John F. Cutter Jr. Fire Station is expected to be open for business by Nov. 1, according to city officials.
“We’re really excited to open this new building. It really looks amazing,” Mayor Sean Reardon said. “I can’t wait to show the rest of the community how this worked out.”
The city began work on the new West End fire station at 153 Storey Ave. in late August 2023. The 6,600-square-foot building was built where the 2,258-square-foot fire station once stood.
Although it was always fully manned, the 51-year-old fire station had been deteriorating for years until it no longer met fire codes. That prompted local leaders to draw plans and secure funding to replace it so that the city’s more isolated West End could be protected around the clock.
The new building includes separate firefighter living quarters as well as workspace with five bedrooms and three restrooms with gender separation.
It also features larger apparatus bays and brings the city into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Geordie Vining, the city’s special projects manager, has been overseeing the project he said for roughly the past five years.
He said the fire department received the certificate of occupancy from the Newburyport Building Department on Friday.
Fire Chief Stephen Bradbury III said the fire station building committee held its final meeting Tuesday morning and there’s very little left to do.
“We’re just waiting on one final piece of the puzzle, which is connecting the two stations so they can talk to each other,” he said. “Then we’ll be good to go.”
A grand opening ceremony, according Reardon is tentatively scheduled for Friday, Nov. 1.
“I go by it all the time and I think it looks great,” he said. “Projects like these are important. I hand it to Chief Bradbury for not only be able to work on the construction of a new building but to also work with a combined staff at the current headquarters that also needs an upgrade.”
Late last August, the city broke ground on the project with a promised September 2024 completion date.
All things considered, Bradbury said, holding a grand opening ceremony on the first day of November is a pretty good resolution.
“It’s not bad, really,” he said. “We turned it around pretty quick. All in all, I’m happy with the way it played out.”
The West End fire station has traditionally housed three firefighters. Over the past year, those workers have been stationed in the fire department’s Greenleaf Street headquarters.
Bradbury said the temporary living arrangements have worked out just fine.
“They can see the station nearing completion so everybody’s itching to get over there,” he said. “The furniture has all been delivered. We’re just waiting on the mattresses and some chairs in the kitchen.”
Training on the new building, Bradbury said is scheduled for next Wednesday.
“We’re really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
Vining said he’s also very excited to be near the finish line.
“We were all just reminiscing about just how terrible the old facility was and how this one is just worlds better,” he said. “It’s been a real pleasure to see the members of the Fire Department getting familiar with this great new asset for the city.”
The new fire station sits in the middle of a residenti