Schenectady NY Fire Station Fire Truck Damage Costs Firefighters

SCHENECTADY, NY – It will cost city taxpayers nearly $100,000 to fix damage caused a few months back when a Schenectady firefighter backing a rig into the Fire Station # 4 – the city’s oldest fire station - accidentally clipped the building.

“They came in at just a slight angle and they caught the side of the door or the opening with the well where the supply line is, so they had to correct that, and when they did they pulled some bricks off,” said Assistant Chief Don Mareno, adding that part of the outlay also includes engineering and architectural work. “The damage that it did was really not that big a deal but because the building is so old, and it was toward the bottom of the wall they now have to do some work to strengthen it.”

On Tuesday next week, the full City Council will vote on whether to accept the low bid of $92,000 by Mid State Industries Ltd of Schenectady to complete the work to the more than century-old fire station on Avenue A near Nott Street in the Goose Hill neighborhood. Three firefighters work there.

Councilman Vince Riggi said Tuesday he thought the structural damage was related to the age of the firehouse and in hindsight wished he would have asked more questions when the matter as voted out of a City Council committee earlier this week.

At that meeting, City Engineer Chris Wallin told the council, none of whom asked any questions, that the repairs were related to the "structural affairs" of the fire station.

“The City Council should be made aware that the structural damage was caused by a fire truck hitting it so we can ask the question, what measure do we put in place so this will not happen again since that opening is not going to get any bigger,” he said.

Mareno stressed that most of the damage occurred as the firefighter backed the truck out of the station and that he rig only sustained a “scrape” on the wall that where the supply hose is housed.

He said that the department’s protocol of having firefighter in the front and one in the back with their radios as well as the rig’s windows opens were followed and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor in the mishap.

“It was a very low impact (collision) but when they maneuvered it to get out, that’s when they did the damage,” he said, adding there is only a few inches on either side of the truck when it’s being backed into the firehouse. “It’s unfortunate that it’s going to cost that kind of money to fix it but if it were a newer station maybe it’s stronger and the damage is less.”

———

Visit the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) at www.timesunion.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.