Residents and visitors in the Village of Wellsburg have watched a new firehouse take shape over the past several months, and that project is finally approaching completion. The new firehouse, which will replace the fire station on Front Street that was damaged in 2011 by flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Lee, will only provide the basics for now, as the village didn't have enough money to include a banquet hall and other amenities.
Construction of the new fire hall was delayed while village officials grappled with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the level of funding for the replacement structure.
Village officials had hoped to have the bare-bones building done by the end of December, but some utility issues slowed things down, according to Mayor Malcolm Coles.
The building should be ready for occupancy next month, Coles said.
"We're looking hopefully at the middle of February to move the fire department and state police (substation). What we were shooting for with FEMA was to be significantly complete by December, which we basically were," he said. "There was a holdup on getting NYSEG to get poles set and power to the building. Then, natural gas was a holdup. Guys have been working off generators and portable heaters. I want to say we're on track to hopefully, if not move all the fire department up there, to at least start getting basic stuff moved."
The fire department still occupies half of the existing building on Front Street. The structure sits near the confluence of Bentley Creek and the Chemung River, and is also near Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.