The Grand Boulevard Fire Company now has a facility befitting its name.
The Niskayuna Fire Department No. 1 on Saturday, June 9, held dedication ceremony for recently completed renovations and addition to its fire station located at 1079 Balltown Road. The new facility was sought to enhance the safety and effectiveness of the department, while also improving training and education of fire district personnel and fire prevention education for the community.
Rep. Paul Tonko spoke during the ceremony and stressed the importance of the service firefighters provide to residents.
“Police and fire protection are critical to the quality of life in our community,” Tonko said. “This fabric of community is very rightfully worthy of our commitment and our investment.”
In 2010, fire district voters gave the department approval to bond $4.8 million, with an interest rate of 2.6 percent. The interest rate was anticipated to be 4.45 percent, so the lower rate will allow the department to realize around $781,500 in savings over the 15-year loan.
Construction and remodeling took around 18 months to complete. Operations in the new facility started early April and the project is nearly complete. Fire Chief Dale Lingenfelter said he expects the project to come in under budget.
Town Supervisor Joe Landry said after he took office in 2008 he toured the old facility and thought it was very cramped and didn’t meet the department’s needs.
“There was no room in that building,” Landry said. “They were making the best of a situation that was less than desirable and they were doing a great job.”
Landry said upon entering the new facility he noticed how each firefighter had their equipment laid out in their own locker, which was something the old facility didn’t allow.
“We needed a nice facility,” Landry said. “This is fantastic. This is a very nice facility.”
Tonko described firefighting as the “most demanding and most stressful situation” and occupation in society.
“We owe a great bit of debt to the men and women who serve us as firefighters and to their family members,” Tonko said, “They endure the stressfulness of the job. Be it career or volunteer … it is a critical role in our society.”
The department initially sought to bond $6.1 million in 2006 to build a new facility, but the public voted down the expenditure by an overwhelming majority.
Due to building code restrictions for essential service facilities, the department couldn’t connect the new building to the current structure. The original bond proposal accounted for the restriction, but in 2008 the code changed to allow for an exception.
“We fired the process back up and changed our approach a little bit in communication with the public and we got the bond through,” Lingenfelter said.
After securing a building permit in October 2010, he said the code changed back in December 2010.
“We got it through just in time,” he said. “By building code right now we could not build this building if we tried to do it today, so we were very luck in that regard.”
Lingenfelter said he didn’t have any concern with adding onto the old building, which was originally constructed in 1937. Significant additions were also made in 1947 and 1967.
“It is an extremely sturdy building,” he said. “It was brought up to the regular building code … even in the old building it is like a new building.”
Landry said effectively communicating with residents was key to the department receiving support. He said holding open houses at the old facility allowed residents to understand the circumstances and reaching out allowed them join in the process.
“We spent a lot of time … evaluating the concerns that were expressed during that first bond attempt,” he said. “We couldn’t have asked for better support from the community.”
Tonko said retrofitting facilities and modernizing equipment is essential for fire departments to better respond and serve the community as technologies improve. He said investing in equipment and training is essential.
“You are the role models of society,” he said to the department’s members. “You protect us well and I’m happy to see you being committed to the cause in such grand fashion.”
Last year, the department answered 1,979 calls and it averages around five calls a day, according to Lingenfelter. The department has a substation located on River Road, too. There are 15 career firefighters/paramedics and 30 volunteer members at the department.
Niskayuna Fire District No. 1 is approximately 10 square miles and the total resident population is more than 12,000, with a weekday population totaling around 20,000.
