After ten years of planning, construction of the new Otter Lake Fire Department is almost complete.
Former Woodgate resident Kevin Jablonski of Beebe Construction Services installs the sign on the new Otter Lake Fire Department firehose on Route 28
“It’s been a great project that we’ve been working on for years, but it never seemed real—never like it was going to actually happen. When I saw the sign going up it finally sunk in that this building will be ours,” said Otter Lake Fire Department Secretary Tom Abrial.
In 2009, Otter Lake received funding from the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) from a Firefighters Station Construction Grant.
Of the 6,025 national applicants, Otter Lake Fire Department was one of only 121 departments to receive funding.
This was due to a joint effort between the fire department, CAP-21 and former CAP-21 grant writer, Julie Benzo.
According to Abrial, planning for this building began a decade ago, and it is his belief that securing grant monies from FEMA was largely due to having a completed plan already in place and ready to go.
Nelson Associates Architectural Engineering of Clinton designed the new building, and the prime contractor on the project is Beebe Construction Services of Utica.
While the building is not expected to be finished until after the new year, once it is operational, it will make a big difference to the Otter Lake Fire Department and the community.
Abrial said the current fire department often has trouble entering and exiting the fire station because it is located on a turn and also sits in a hole that is below the road grade.
The new location on Route 28 sits much higher on the road and has greater visibility for drivers attempting to pull out of the station.
“When we pull out of our current firehouse, we really can’t see the traffic that is heading north because of the hill. We’ve had some close calls over the years, so it will be a lot safer for us, which was really the main thing. That, and to provide emergency shelter services and better room for our apparatus, maintenance, and training,” Abrial said.
In the current location, the ceiling is so low that, according to Mr. Abrial, in order to fit inside the building, the tanker must be full of water in order to clear the carrier beams.
“If the tanker is empty, the springs come up, and we can’t fit the truck into the firehouse. Also, the side clearance on three of the trucks is only about three to four inches, so we actually have to pull the trucks out of the fire house to open up any of the compartments, or to do any work on the trucks,” he said.
In addition to having enough clearance for all of the vehicles, the new fire station will also have enough room to store and perform maintenance on the 24-foot pontoon fire boat that until now has had to have been stored over the winter in a neighbor’s barn.
Not only will the new building have a full kitchen and an emergency generator, it is also designed to be an emergency shelter that can house large numbers of people.
“We want to thank everyone who has supported us over the years,” Abrial said, “especially all of those who have bought and sold our truck raffle tickets. Without those funds, we couldn’t do what we are doing—even with the grant. Without the community support of our raffles and fundraisers, we just couldn’t have done it.”
