The grand opening doubled as an open house at the department's newly-built fire hall, giving people in town a chance to see the nearly 7,000-square-foot facility.

Crew members said the new building is three times larger than the old one which was hard to get trucks in and out of.

The firefighters decided to pool their money together to purchase a used sauna on Craigslist. 

Studies show sweating out the soot and toxins after fighting a fire is a health benefit that can prevent cancers linked to the job. 

"You definitely feel better, and you feel like you're doing something that will affect your quality of life later on down the road," said firefighter Jeff Herbert. 

Firefighters rotate two at a time for 15 minutes. Sitting in the sauna is now part of station 5's decontamination protocol. 

The fire started in the cooking area at the Whitney Ave station just after 6 p.m. while the crews were responding to a separate fire on Nichols Street.

New Haven Fire Chief John Alston told Channel 3 that a passing police officer saw the smoke and called the incident in to fire crews.

Chief Alston said it could be a very long time to clean up the extensive damage, but he said, no fire apparatus was damaged.

Firefighters Michael Edwards and Tom Craigo were both killed in the accident, according to Johnson.

Johnson says Edwards had 25 years of service as a firefighter, and Craigo had about 15 years of service with the department.

Both the firefighters killed are married and have children. Edwards just got married approximately one week ago, according to Johnson. Craigo was just married in December.

According to the deputy chief of the Pratt Volunteer Fire Department, one of the injured firefighters, Billy Hypes, is stable at CAMC General Hospital.

Chief Timothy Walker remains in the ICU with critical injuries.