WALLINGFORD - The new fire station on North Farms Road should reduce response times for medical calls, the fire chief said. The new 16,000-square-foot station, located at 884 North Farms Road, will help improve the fire department's response to emergency medical situations, said Fire Chief Richard Heidgerd.
“It gives us an opportunity to grow as a volunteer fire department,” North Farms Volunteer Fire Chief Tim Wall said. “We now have a facility that is comfortable, clean and state of the art.”The station will house a paramedic ambulance staffed by career firefighters, which the old volunteer fire station did not allow. The ambulance has become the fire department’s primary responding vehicle for medical emergencies, and the only town ambulance on call 24/7.
The North Farms unit celebrated its 70-year anniversary last weekend and currently has about 45 volunteers, Wall said. The voluntary fire unit is one of two in Wallingford, along with the East Wallingford Volunteer Fire Department. Earlier this year, the North Farms department consolidated with the Yalesville volunteer department due to a lack of volunteers at both departments, Heidgerd said.
Construction on the station began in April 2015, two months after the Town Council approved $4.6 million for the project.
The new station was built at the site of a former horse barn and dairy farm. The town purchased the land in 2011. The station cost about $5 million in total to complete, Heidgerd said.