Driving past the old Arrowsic Fire Station, it’s easy to understand why the entire volunteer fire department resigned in disgust after town selectmen refused to approve funds for a new station in 2000.
Arrowsic, however, recently held an open house in a brand-new station, because Fire Chief Chris Cummings, who took on the job in 2006, found the catalyst to convince townspeople to change their minds and finance a new building. Cummings won a $190,000 federal grant to replace Arrowsic’s vintage tanker, a converted Coca Cola delivery truck, with a larger, state-of-the-art tanker truck that is custom-designed to meet Arrowsic’s needs.
The catch was, the new truck couldn’t fit into the old fire station with its 10—by—10—foot doors. Even with the smaller old truck, the fit was so tight firemen had to cut away part of the roof frame to get it in, and then, says fireman Jeremy Blaiklock, there were barely three feet between the back of the old truck and Cummings’ desk in his “office.”
At a special town meeting in January 2010, residents unanimously approved $150,000 for the new station, to be located on town-owned land near the town hall. They also approved $10,000 for the new truck, one of the conditions of the grant.
A work crew broke ground in September, 2010, and the building was closed in, ready to house the new tanker in December with a month to spare before the grant deadline in January, 2011. On June 5 the town celebrated the completed building, its south-facing 12—by—12—foot doors open to let sun into the bright and airy interior, the new tanker glistening in one of the bays. At the ceremony, Head Selectman Larry Wilson emphasized that the roomy, energy-efficient building was made possible only because costs were kept down by the perseverance and hard work of a large group of volunteers, plus numerous donations of money and materials from area businesses, financial institutions, civic groups and sub-contractors. Because of their generosity, he said, the town got a $200,000 truck for $10,000, and an estimated $220,000 fire station for $150,000—a pretty good bargain, he thought.
Resident Rob Shultz, a member of the building committee, served pro bono as construction supervisor, obtaining bids for sub-contracts and managing the flow of work. Shultz says whenever he needed help on the job, he would call Cummings, who’d find some fire-fighters to lend a hand. Many others helped, like building committee members Dale Carlton, who stopped by after working the graveyard shift at Bath Iron Works to put in some time before going home, and Lenny LeBrun, who would do the same after working a day shift. On weekends, Cummings and others cleaned up the site to make it easier for work to begin on Monday.
Numerous resident volunteers contributed their expertise to help keep costs down, says Shultz, who did much of the finish work when the building was closed in. These included John Wood, who surveyed the land prior to construction; Al Heath, who helped with trim work and administered a blower-door test to measure energy efficiency; Mark Geiger, who did all interior painting and donated some of the paint; Ned Sewall, who installed an underground propane tank and hooked it up to the boiler; and John Hinds and Buck Rogers, who worked on various phases of the construction. Rogers also helped test and bleach the well water.
Blaiklock, building committee chair, says the needs were clear: more space for the truck and some extra with an eye to the future, an office for the chief, a bathroom (there wasn’t one in the old space), and larger doors. Steven Theodore, an Arrowsic architect who contributed a complete set of working plans, encouraged the committee to think beyond fire trucks and consider how else this new, warm space, the largest in the town, could be beneficial to the town. Ultimately, they included features to make the space legal for group gatherings, and he obtained the necessary permits. On June 15, the town held its town meeting at the fire station, a big step up from having it in the Georgetown school gym, or battling clouds of mosquitoes in a tent outside the town hall. Since an automatic generator has been installed, the station can also be used as a refuge during power outages.
The energy-efficient building has radiant heating in the floor, a state-of-the-art small propane-fired boiler, and other sustainable features, including Hardie cement siding, AZEK fiberglass trim, and vinyl windows. It is fitted for solar panels, which Theodore says could generate enough electricity to take care of the station plus provide credit that could net town electric use down to zero.
Shultz says the construction went smoothly, but the one thing that kept him awake at night was the slab. He explains that it was critical to have good material put into the foundation hole and to vibrate it properly so that it compacted evenly before a Styrofoam layer and the heating tubes were laid down and then the concrete poured. Otherwise, the slab might crack under the weight of the trucks and the tubes could be damaged. Dick Elwell of Richard Elwell Excavating, located in Arrowsic, got it exactly right, he says.
At the open house, Selectman Wilson joked that the tanker committee “spent hours discussing, debating and arguing about the specs for the truck.” Mike Kreindler, a member of the truck and building committees, says the process was complex because fire departments in small towns have different types of calls like medical emergencies, car accidents and chimney, forest and building fires. “The primary attack vehicle has to carry on it whatever is needed for all these different circumstances,” he says. “We took the basic specs of a tank truck to carry water (the new truck has a capacity of 2,000 gallons, 200 more than the old) and then added to it: pumps, generators, hose, ladders, suction lines, nozzles, tools, air packs for respirators, traffic cones. It basically becomes a rolling tool box.” Often, he adds, in a mutual aid call, the truck will be one in a series of tanker trucks that take water from a source and deliver it to the fire scene. The new Arrowsic truck carries a folding dump tank made of canvas and vinyl with a metal frame. “We can dump 2,000 gallons of water into it and go back to get more,” he says.
The generosity and dedication of so many people in the community have given Arrowsic and neighboring towns important new resources. “It’s like night and day,” says Blaiklock, “hard to believe. It makes it possible for us to take our place as an equal partner in the mutual aid community.” q
Muriel Hendrix is a freelance writer living in Bath.