A New York fire department will soon have a new addition to its station to accommodate its newly purchased rescue apparatus.
Construction is almost complete on renovations to the New London Volunteer Fire Department's station in Rome, the Rome Sentinel reports. The improvements give more space for firefighters' lockers and provide a fresh home for the department's 2020 Ford F-550.
“We’ve got five trucks in a four-stall garage,” Fire Chief Gene Carey told the Sentinel. "I don’t need my guys trying to squeeze the trucks in there, especially not a brand new truck.”
A station remodel has been in the works since a wind storm knocked over a storage facility on the property three years ago. The department used the insurance money from that to help pay for the $39,000, 24-feet-by-40-feet addition, according to the Sentinel.
Once the department paid for the expansion, it still had leftover insurance money available, and that was added to an apparatus fund that firefighters had been collecting over the years. Eventually, $63,000 was used to buy the new rescue apparatus, which replaced a 1997 Chevrolet Tahoe that was then given to a firefighter who had been responsible for its upkeep.
Another upgrade for the department includes a new harness in order to lift patients. And while the rescue apparatus is already in service, firefighters will need to receive training on the harness before it's used in the field, the Sentinel added.
