Amy Calder
Morning Sentinel, Waterville, Maine
(TNS)
Oct. 20—CLINTON — The Clinton fire station on Church Street is old, cramped and inadequate for the needs of today’s firefighters and equipment, prompting the need for a new station.
That was the word Sunday from officials who answered questions Sunday at an open house held at the station at 19 Church St.
Town voters are set to vote Nov. 5 on a referendum asking if they want to borrow up to $1.9 million to help fund a new fire station to be built on a lot next to the Town Office at 27 Baker St.
The money would be added to about $2 million the town was awarded two years ago for a new fire station as part of congressional spending, officials said.
“We need more space, we need more people, we need everything,” Town Manager Daniel Swain said.
Swain was talking with fire Chief Travis Leary and others inside the fire station Sunday. Outside, firefighters spoke with residents on a sunny, 70-degree day, as children played football on the quiet street.
Leary said the original fire station in the center of the lot was built in the 1950s, and two bays were added in 2003 to the right of the building and three were built to the left. The bays house ambulances, a pickup truck and three fire trucks, he said. The old station was renovated at the time to retrofit the meeting room, office, kitchen and living quarters.
“Basically, two ambulances are double-parked, so there’s no space in between,” Leary said. “Fire engines, same thing. Trucks are getting bigger and longer due to EMS standards, and a replacement pumper tanker would be, like, 36, 37 feet, and the bay is only 40 feet long. Even now, if the trucks are in, they have to be turned sideways.”
The lot on which the station sits also is too small, with a thin strip of pavement on either side, and a small section behind the station, according to Leary.
“We can’t add on,” he said. “If we could put an addition on, we could gain more space that way, but we just don’t own the land.”
The town bought a house lot two or three years ago next to the Town Office, which is where a new fire station would be built — to the left, as one is facing the building.
The police station is at the Town Office.
“As town manager, I’d like to create a campus with the fire chief, town manager and police chief all in one place,” Swain said.
Clinton officials have been working on plans for a fire station for about four years, or about as long as the town has had a building committee. Originally, officials hoped to build a public safety building to house the Police and Fire departments, but when the town applied for a federal grant, only a fire station was approved, according to Leary.
Residents voted to approve money to design a new fire station, which was done by Dirigo Engineering of Fairfield. The town also appropriated more than $100,000 at the town meeting to be used toward a station. Officials put the project out to bid, and chose Blane Casey Contractors of Augusta as the contractor, if voters approve funding Nov. 5.
“This is a good community, and they’ve always supported the Fire Department very well,” Leary said. “I&#