Volunteers will be working on the structure in preparation for
a new firetruck.
RUMFORD – Construction of a temporary building to house a new ladder truck is expected to start by September.
In the meantime, however, Rumford Fire Chief John Woulfe said he, Lt. Keith Bickford and the town’s lawyer, Jennifer Kreckel, plan to meet next week to discuss options for workmen’s compensation coverage for the volunteers who will be constructing the building.
Several of the Fire Department’s firefighters have offered to build the structure during their off time, led by Bickford.
The 50-by-16-by-16-foot high steel building will be placed in the municipal parking lot located on River Street, across from the rear of the fire station. About half the parking spaces will be lost while the building is standing.
The temporary building is needed to house a 1990 ladder truck soon to be delivered to the town from Hartford, Conn. It will replace a 1971 ladder truck that was recently taken out of commission because it could not pass inspection or ladder certification. The Fire Department has an agreement with the Mexico Fire Department to have the Mexico department’s ladder truck respond to any calls requiring a ladder truck.
The 1990 ladder truck will be parked at the rear of the fire station or at the municipal highway garage while firefighters train in its use. The truck is expected to arrive in mid-August.
It is too large to fit in the 1925 brick fire station.
Once the temporary building is completed, Woulfe said public information sessions on tentative plans to build a new fire station will begin. He said those meetings are expected to begin sometime in October.
A Fire Station Task Force that has been meeting for about two years has maintained that the 78-year-old Congress Street station lacks the space and other requirements for today’s fire apparatus and duties undertaken by firefighters. Hopes are to build a new station outside of the immediate downtown area.
eadams@sunjournal.com
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