Phase 1 is scheduled to be completed by Dec. 5, with the deadline for the whole project set for June 2017, 11 months after approval came in, Clodgo said.

Luck Brothers Inc. came on as the general contractor, L.H. LaPlante Co. Inc. is handling the plumbing, and Ace Electric and J. Hogan Refrigeration & Mechanical Inc. were awarded the jobs of electrical and mechanical, respectively.

"The board has been adamant about this from day 1," Clodgo said. "We’re quite pleased they’re all local."

AES Northeast, who is providing architecture and engineering services for the project, also brought aboard Queensbury-based Schoder Rivers Associates for structural engineering.

HIGHER CEILINGS

As of Tuesday, construction workers had stripped the ceiling and floor of the original meeting room and nearly completed asbestos removal, Clodgo said.

"They’re taking the mastic off the floor," he added.

The new addition's ceilings will be higher than the rest, so mechanics can work on the district's custom pumpers in the wintertime, Fire Commission Public Information Officer Polly King said.

The cabs of those pumpers rise up for access to the engines and controls, Clodgo explained, and the current bays' ceilings are too low to allow for indoor work.

“It’s been a long time coming to get to this point, but we did it thanks to the support of our Building Committee and town leaders and the residents of Uxbridge,” Kessler said in his remarks.

Genereux said it was Kessler and Ostroskey, the town’s former fire chief, who began promoting the need for a new station more than 10 years ago.

“Their vision was that this would take place at some point and here we are 10 years later and its happening,” he said.

The 14,365-square-foot fire station is being built on the reconfigured current site next to Town Hall on South Main Street. The expansion will allow for two-way vehicle flow out of the five bays as well as parking for the public and for firefighters.

The proposed construction site has been a beehive of activity over the past four months, including the demolition in May of the old post office adjacent to the current station to make way for site work.

The project will include the eventual razing of the existing fire station and construction of an entirely new building, complete with five drive-thru bays.

Police said at least four or five people were injured. The extent of their injuries was not immediately learned, but their injuries were not life-threatening, police said.

The ambulance was from Moonachie and was headed to Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus, police said. It was not clear whether there was a patient in the ambulance.

New Jersey State Police also responded.

“The Pineville Volunteer Fire Department was organized in 1975,” Fire Chief Mike Stephen said. “About that time, Hale Gene Moody and others in Dolph bought a Jeep from the U.S. Forest Service. They put a tank on it and parked it there. We needed a second station so we could respond faster to calls in Dolph.”

Planning for Station No. 2 began after March 23, 2011, when a brush fire burned more than 900 acres in Dolph. The Pineville, Rodney and Calico Rock fire departments fought the blaze.

“It was dry and windy,” Stephen said. “A fire creates its own wind. Our duty is to save lives, prevent injuries and protect property in that order. For brush fires, we contact the

Arkansas Forestry Commission. They may ask us to take out a small line of fire so they can get their dozers in front of it. That night, Forestry was dumping water from planes and had dozers digging fire trenches. One small shed burned. The rest was undergrowth and dead trees.”

First, Stephen looked at possible locations for Station No. 2 along Sanders Lane, the only paved road in Dolph. His firefighters talked to landowners about selling their property.

“Someone talked to Carl Russell,” Stephen said. “Carl Russell offered to lease us the land at no charge for as long as we have an operating fire station in Dolph.”

Next, Stephen applied to the White River Planning and Development District for a grant, he said.

“This agency is a clearinghouse for rural-services funding. We put together a $100,000 turnkey plan,” Stephen said. “They gave us a grant of $15,000, so our plan changed. State Rep. Tommy Wren (D-Melbourne) helped us get a second grant. We ended up with $32,000, which we had to spend within two years.”