Firefighters break ground on headquarters
ADAMS TOWNSHIP — Adams Township personnel and firefighters broke new ground Saturday.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the site of the future Adams Area Fire District headquarters at the site of the old Mars Bank on Route 228 next to Fleming Tire & Auto Service.
“It's a huge leap for us to get the process rolling, so it's an exciting thing for us,” said fire district President Jason Safreed. “It's a long time coming and it makes it really official today.”
Russ Ford, one of the township supervisors on hand, talked about the importance of the new building.
“We expect it to (attract more volunteers),” he said.
It will be a 100-by-100-foot building and will have living space with 15 bunks for the firefighters. Safreed said bunks for volunteers is becoming a national trend.
“That's what it's going toward because we're not getting people from home, so one of the aspects is you bring somebody in, you train them, and then they can stay with you,” he said. “It speeds up response time drastically.”
The property also will include indoor and outdoor training apparatus that can be used by other fire departments.
Flesher Contracting is the general contractor, while 1st American Industries will do the heating, ventilation and air conditioning, Wm. T. Spaeder is in charge of the plumbing, J & J Fire Protection will install the sprinklers and IE Power will do the electrical.
Flesher Contracting President Dennis Fleeher said the deadline to finish is May 2017, but he hopes to be finished by March.
The construction will cost $5 million, though it could be less if the township receives its requested $200,000 grant. The grant is for a traffic signal on Route 228 that can be manipulated by firefighters from a blinking yellow light to a red light when they are leaving for a call.
Ford said the township is still waiting for a response regarding the grant.
Safreed said the fire district has held fundraisers for the new building and has received donations for it. Ford said they “definitely need more” donations.
Currently, the district has two fire stations; one in Adams Township and one in Valencia, though Safreed said that could change.
“In the future, depending on how things go we'll just have to see about the Valencia station,” he said. “Financially it may not be a positive thing to keep it open for the cost of what it is, and (Adams Township) being our main station.”
When the new station is up and running, the current Adams Township station will be sold.
The fire district also services Mars and Seven Fields. It takes from 700 to 900 calls per year.
