Lead Stories, News

Fire Dept. seeking bids for building renovation

The Harrison Fire Department will release a request for proposals in the coming weeks for interior renovations of its main firehouse.

According to fire Chief John Masciola, the department will begin accepting bids on Aug. 16 for approximately $250,000 in renovations needed at its headquarters at 206 Harrison Ave., after receiving the nod of approval from the Harrison Town Council on July 20.

The Fire Department is seeking to perform construction on the older portion of its building known as the “apparatus floor,” which has seen minimal improvements since being built in 1923.

The Harrison Fire Department is anticipating renovating its fire house located at 206 Harrison Ave. The department will release an official request for proposals seeking an estimated $250,000 in construction to the building’s apparatus floor. File photo

According to Masciola, the drains on the apparatus floor are currently 4 inches above the actual floor itself, which often floods as a result.

The building is also expected to undergo upgrades required under the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, which prohibits discrimination based on disability. As of press time, the bathrooms on the apparatus floor are not ADA compliant.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the law requiring establishments to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled people with both mental and physical conditions.

“We’re excited and looking forward to [the improvements],” Masciola told the Review. “The department [building] is in need of major renovations and hopefully this is the beginning of cleaning the firehouse up and bringing it to a level where it should be.”

The fire chief added that the improvements come as a way to properly house its new ladder truck that the Fire Department purchased several months ago.

In February, voters in the town/village of Harrison’s Fire District 2 approved a bond for $800,000 to finance the majority of the cost of a Seagrave 95-foot aerial ladder truck—the new ladder truck was estimated to cost $1.5 million in total—which replaced its 1994 Stuphen truck.

The department estimated spending about $130,000 to repair and preserve the Stuphen truck within the last several years.

“With the new ladder [truck], we wanted to make sure everything was perfect,” said Masciola, who explained the construction will possibly kick start the department’s next anticipated project, erecting an elevator at the building.

At the moment, there has only been discussion about the potential for that type of project, for which there is no timeframe for when that will be addressed or how much an elevator will cost.

There is currently no deadline to submit a proposal to the Fire Department; however, a mandatory pre-bid conference has been scheduled for Aug. 9.

Town Engineer Michael Amodeo declined to comment.