Fire Chief Spencer Lee said the city hired a private asbestos inspector before moving ahead with planned renovations to the building. The decision to bring in an inspector was made because some firefighters were worried there was asbestos in the South Meeting Street building that could be disturbed by the renovations.  

The inspector, Terry Miller, who is an asbestos cleanup professional in Statesville, said he found two small areas in the building where loose material was falling from the ceiling. One was above a workbench and another was in the station’s stairwell.

Tests showed the material contained 2 percent asbestos, Miller said. He sealed the two areas and said no asbestos was found in air tests afterward.

City Council has unanimously approved contracting with Emergency Services Consulting International to conduct a consolidation study to consider the impact on response times, insurance rates and other factors.   

"We're going to look at the city's aging fire stations," said Mayor Richard David. "Some of them require significant investment to stay in operation. So what we've done is I've initiated a study on the impact of a new consolidated fire station at several potential sites." The Binghamton Fire Department in 2017 handled 10,213 emergency calls — less than a quarter for fires and more than three-quarters for emergency medical services and other emergencies, such as vehicle accidents, hazardous materials, water and elevators.