By Trevor Jones
The Berkshire Eagle
MEW MARLBOROUGH, Mass. — When an emergency happens, how fast responders arrive can make all the difference — and that’s a problem for the town’s volunteer fire department and fire company since it takes them a while just to get their vehicles in and out of the station’s front doors.
“We started adding that up in minutes,” said Robert Scott, president of the New Marlborough Fire Company, pointing out the tight space that five vehicles occupy in a three-bay garage. “It’s ridiculous.”
But the members believe it won t be a problem down the road, as they have taken it into their own hands to raise the funds for a new station that can meet their needs and replace the decaying, half-century old station.
The fire company purchased an abutting lot on Norfolk Road in 2003 for $136,000. And the first signs of the future station arose this summer, with the laying of its foundation.
Through the company s emergency management fund, as well as donations, the group was able to pay off the property’s loan, and they have raised several thousand dollars for the new station as well.
“Whether it was $2 or $200, a huge part of the town steps up when it s needed,” said Scott.
And to say a new station would help would be an understatement. Vehicles are packed in so tightly that an ambulance and a fire engine rest a mere inches apart, their bumpers over hanging one another just to fit inside. Meanwhile, cracks lining the wall large enough to see through add to exorbitant heating costs of keeping thousands of gallons of water from freezing in the trucks.
“It s appalling — something that obsolete,” said David Herrick, captain of the fire department.
Other problems include no view from the radio room of who, or what, is in the truck bays if they are called into action, and families can face dangers when they stay at the station during emergencies — like last year’s ice storm or after a tornado ripped through town — as the only way in was through the bays.
The new station, expected to be operational by the end of next year, will address those problems, members say, eventually expanding to fit all the emergency vehicles comfortably.
Herrick estimated the station would have cost the town more than $1 million, unaffordable with the current lack of state aid and the pressing need of road reconstruction. He said many of the volunteer 33 firefighters and EMTs will be giving up their time in the months ahead, working on the project to defray some of the final cost.
But even with the funds already raised and another $350,000 loan taken out for the project, members say they will need continued support to get the work done.
“We’re asking people to give a little more,” said Scott. “Because we’re giving a little more.”
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