The all-volunteer Arnoldsville Fire Department is nearing completion on a 30-by-40 foot side building that will give firefighters more space to operate and serve as a refuge for the community during severe weather.
To fund the estimated $150,000 project, the department has taken out a loan for the first time since 2010, when it built the original bay.
“This was one of those projects where we could not raise funds fast enough to outpace how expensive stuff is getting,” Chief Heath Baker said.
Along with air conditioning, which the department lacks, the building will be equipped with an ADA-compliant bathroom, kitchen and a planned backup generator. Assistant Chief Stan McNeil said they hope to install a generator that can power the entire building in the event of a power outage.
“We’ve always talked about trying to make the station available for the community in case of a natural disaster, or long-term power outage, where people could come to get warmer or have a dry place to sleep,” McNeil said.
The addition features wood stud framing and concrete flooring, with tin siding and roof to match the original building. Alongside the kitchen and bathroom, it will house an office for Baker and a meeting room, which will be used to provide training classes.
Local contractor Ethan Allen, a co-owner of Fortis Structure, began work on the project in May.
Allen said his two-man crew has kept the parking lot clear throughout construction to ensure they do not interfere with emergency response times. They even relocated the bay’s entrance door before breaking ground on the project, since it was located where the addition now stands.
Allen’s team works on the project at least three days per week, weather permitting, alongside several subcontractors.
“We come in, we frame it, and then the other trades come in, far as electricians, and then the plumbers come in after them, so it’s like a sequence of everybody at once,” Allen said. “We fill in where we need to as the phases get ready.”
Allen said he and his team have not encountered any issues and the project has “been pretty cut and dry.”
“Heath and them gave us a good plan to go off of, and luckily, it’s just a new building beside the building, so it really wasn’t that much extra work being involved,” Allen said.
The upgrade comes at a critical time for the department, which saw its busiest year on record last year with 150 calls.
Because of its location near Highway 78, volunteers respond to more motor vehicle wrecks than any other emergency. Baker said the department is averaging eight to 10 calls per month this year.
The renovations are expected to be finished as early as next month and the department is starting a fundraising campaign to help pay back the loan as quickly as possible.
“We have been very fortunate that the city of Arnoldsville supports us greatly … and we're hoping that we get support from the community to pay this off a lot faster, so we can move forward with other things that we need,” McNeil said.