Opening of Millwood Firehouse is Dawn of a New Era

A quarter century after Millwood Fire Department officials first explored building a new firehouse their dream became reality on Saturday morning.

The department decommissioned its antiquated 91-year-old Fire Station No. 1 on Route 120 and moved into the just completed 18,600-square-foot state-of the-art facility at 100 Millwood Rd., about 300 yards down the street.

The move, which will be completed by Friday, was accompanied by a ceremony that included the transfer of the American flag to the  new site and a short parade.

“Buildings are made of brick and mortar, not love,” said former chief and 58-year department member Neil Gollogly. “But I found out that beloved firehouses are made of men and women who built it, serve it, who come together as a community. They breathe life into our beloved firehouse.”

All but $4 million of the $13,995,000 needed to build the structure was overwhelmingly approved by district voters in a 2011 referendum. Construction began early last year capping a two-decade struggle to find a suitable site to build a new facility that would be big enough to house today’s larger apparatus, said Hala Makowska, chair of the board of fire commissioners. The new firehouse, which has five bays, was completed on budget, she said.

Makowska said the vehicles barely fit in the old building and there is little room between trucks, making it difficult for firefighters wearing or carrying their gear to efficiently race to a call.

“It was built for a 1924 Brockway, that’s when the original firehouse was built, and when we did this firehouse and we came up with the exact space you see in front of you, (there are) the NFPA and OSHA standards for the type of space that you need around the apparatus,” she said.

Commissioner Alan Schapiro said in the early 1990s the department transferred ownership of the site of the old firehouse to the district for $1 with the promise that it would one day be able to build a new facility. Its old property was recently sold for more than $700,000, which will be used to offset the project’s cost, he said.

During site plan review, fire officials faced various environmental hurdles before construction of the new building was allowed to proceed.

“The site is not ideal but it became the best available,” Schapiro said.

Chief Greg Santone said the timing of the move will coincide with next Thursday’s scheduled closing of the sale of the old property. This week, some of the supplies will be moved over and on Friday the apparatus and turnout gear will go to the new firehouse for good, Santone said.

Since the new facility is much larger and more modern than what the department is accustomed to, it will be a new experience for everyone.

“There’s definitely a learning curve,” Santone said. “Construction is 100 percent done. Basically, we’re aiming toward the goal where we have the essential facility and components up and running, but there are a couple of rooms that need to be finished and a couple of the systems need to be fully worked out and fully up and running. So it’s going to be a little bit of a process.”

Aside from having a modern firehouse, Makowska said building the facility was also crucial to support the volunteers and the department, which helps save taxpayers up to an estimated $3.2 million a year compared to paying for professional firefighters.

She said the department’s most valuable assets are the volunteers and hopes the new firehouse will help entice other community members to join.

“It’s a lot of training and a lot of work and we wanted to let them know we’re going to support them to let them do the job they need to do,” Makowska said.

The department will schedule a formal grand opening and ceremony next spring.