It's official!
New fire station open for business
BY MARY PERHAM THE LEADER

FILE PHOTO A ribbon cutting ceremony was to be held Saturday at the new Bath fire station.

BATH - After years of threading huge fire engines through a narrow alley and blasting horns to alert traffic on Liberty Street, Bath volunteer firefighters are celebrating in their new location on East Morris Street.

The volunteers were scheduled to host an open house nd ribbon cutting at the new station from 10 a.m-4 p.m. Saturday. The 18,000- square-foot fire house is located at 50 E. Morris St.

"It's not just something we wanted," said Steve Dungan, president of the 100-member strong volunteer department. "The community has been behind us in a big way, throughout the whole thing. We just can't thank them enough."

Efforts to relocate the station began in early 2002 when village trustees agreed to conduct a feasibility study on a move. At that time, the 6,000-square-foot station was located behind the Municipal Building on Liberty Street with the only access a 14-foot wide, 150-feet long alley.

The station was built in 1960 as a storage room for the twobay fire hall in the Municipal Building.

While the new station may have housed smaller engines and eased crowding nearly 50 years ago, it later developed into a very dangerous situation.

Volunteers rushing to the station for a call frequently narrowly missed engines roaring out on their way to the emergency. Exiting onto Liberty Street also was dangerous, with poor visibility for engine drivers, pedestrians and oncoming traffic.

And with 10 big firefighting units, there was virtually no room in the hall for maintenance, repairs, and gear. The tiny station office at the rear of the station had room for two men, and was packed with electronics, a computer, files, a desk and one chair.

Village officials were aware of the problems, but concerned by the lack of available property in the village and the cost of construction. Some 51 percent of the village is tax-exempt, restricting the tax base.

With the trustees' support but no extra funding, firefighters launched a mammoth $2 million construction campaign in 2003, reaching out to residents in the 72-square-mile region they serve. The department also received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The fundraising went beyond the volunteers' expectations, enabling the department to purchase land near St. Mary's Church and the Bath Day Care Center two years later and begin construction in 2006.

The new station began operations earlier this month with six bays, an equipment room, offices, showers, a board room/emergency operations center and a large hall for department and community use.

The hall seats 145 people and will be rented out to raise more funds, said Alfred Brewer, second assistant fire chief. Volunteers hope to put an electronic sign outside the station to carry weather and other emergency alerts, Brewer said.

Firefighters said the open house is a way to introduce the community to the fire station it helped build.

"I think it's safe to say we couldn't have done it without them," Dungan said.