NY Fire Department to Replace 50-Year-Old Station

ORISKANY — The Oriskany Fire Department is planning a new firehouse that would be located on land that is part of the old Waterbury Mill.

The current firehouse is on Utica Street in the village. Fire Chief Jeff Burkhart said the 50-year-old building is not large enough to house everything the department needs today.

The new fire trucks barely fit in the hangar. Firefighters are forced to change in a small area adjacent to the responding trucks, while some vehicles are parked outside the hangar, he said. Some emergency response equipment, meanwhile, also must be kept offsite.

"We've outgrown the building itself," Burkhart said. "It was not designed for modernly designed fire apparatuses."

Burkhart said the department has been researching a new firehouse for the last two years. They are still in the planning process, however, and still need to create a design plan.

The fire chief said the new building would be modeled after the firehouse in Poland.

He added that the firehouse is not expected to cost taxpayers anything. The land is being donated and the department will use its fundraising efforts to pay for the construction.

The firehouse is slated to be built on an acre of the old Waterbury Mill. The land is in the process of being donated by Waterbury Square.

A building on the property collapsed due to a storm and Waterbury Square needed to do something with the building, said Adam Kernan, a local engineer hired by Waterbury Square to work on the project.

The land is being looked at as a potential brownfield site due to its history as an old factory. Evaluation for remediation and contamination at the site already is underway.

Kernan said the possible brownfield status would not impact the area being used for a firehouse.

Burkhart was thankful for Waterbury Square's donation of the land.

"That's going to be a huge benefit to us," Burkhart said. "If they did not do it, we wouldn't be able to do this."

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