"Temporary" station delivered for Bridgeport, CT

[Guest FFNick]

There has been quite a bit of coverage on this in the Connecticut Post, so here is the latest - the trailer is delivered, and they are hooking up utilities. Engine 7 will return to the Black Rock fire station, but Ladder 11 will remain on Wood Avenue. This seems to be similar to what Mount Vernon is going through.

Here is the article from today's Connecticut Post:

Fire station repairs could take months

JOHN BURGESON jburgeson@ctpost.comArticle Last Updated: 01/08/2008 12:32:15 AM EST

BRIDGEPORT — Firefighters will return to the Ocean Terrace Fire Station in the city's West End this week, based in a 60-foot trailer serving as temporary quarters while the station undergoes extensive repairs.

The Ocean Terrace station, adjacent to the P.T. Barnum public housing complex, has been closed since early December because of a collapsed floor caused by broken pipes. The Barnum apartments and nearby neighborhoods comprise one of the most densely populated areas of the city.

"We'll be operational by Wednesday," Fire Chief Brian Rooney said Monday. "Right now, we're connecting up the water, sewer, electrical and communications lines to the trailer."

Rooney said the trailer is being rented from a company in New Hampshire at a cost of $1,600 monthly. "We looked all over, and that was the only trailer that could suit the purpose."

He explained that personnel from one engine company will use the trailer, with the firetruck parked in a portion of the station that isn't affected by the reconstruction and repair effort. Four firefighters will be stationed in the trailer per shift. The trailer is situated behind the fire station.

"The truck has to be kept indoors and in a heated area — there's water in it and it can't freeze," Rooney said. "Also, you don't want to leave a $400,000 engine outside all night." The move will allow the station — which normally has two other fire engines and a ladder truck — to provide rapid firefighting capabilities to its primary coverage zone of the West End and Black Rock. The other pieces of apparatus normally based at Ocean Terrace will remain for the time being at the Wood Avenue Fire Station, about a mile away.

Rooney said that it will likely take until March for repairs to the Ocean Terrace station to be completed. Today, workers using a jackhammer and a power shovel were busy tearing up the reinforced concrete floor of the station.

Fire response times in the wake of the station's closure have been scrutinized since Dec. 7 when a Fairfield Avenue fire killed a 1-year-old boy and his parents in a house only a short distance from the Ocean Terrace station. The blaze spread to two other houses and uprooted 22 people.

The fatal blaze erupted a few days after the Ocean Terrace station was closed.

It took firefighters about seven minutes to get there from Wood Avenue, but Rooney has said it's not clear if a faster response time could have prevented the casualties in the fast-moving fire. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

[jloftus 28]

Maybe we can get together with our brothers in Ct. and go to a tractor pull

[LTNRFD 266]

Maybe the guys from Mt. Vernon can give the Bridgeport chaps a few pointers on decorating the single wide.

[Oswegowind 17]

Bridgeport is Connecticuts Mount Vernon and vice versa!

[hudson144 150]

hey nick, what kind of tires do you have on that rig?

[on the job 68]

Maybe the guys from Mt. Vernon can give the Bridgeport chaps a few pointers on decorating the single wide.

Pointers on decorating, are you kidding.... take a look at those pretty curtains in the front windows.

[cas2383 22]

Floor collapse? Sounds familiar.....

[FirNaTine 370]

Nothing like keeping up with the maintenance of City Buildings, especially for the Emergency Service personnel. To think, also, that most of this kind of stuff could be avoided if people just cared a little more, instead of just leaving work and all the troubles behind at the end of the day, for the other guy to worry about.

[TL2L31 8]

Has anyone seen the inside of Port Chester Heaquarters lately? The floor was only partialy repaired this past year. The plaster is peeling off the walls. The windows wont stay up by themselves. Instead of replacing an engine that doesnt need to be, maybe the village should put that 500k into repairing Headquarters. Just my 2 Cents.