WESTFIELD – The city’s fire headquarters will be protected by a sprinkler system and an up-to-date alarm system after the City Council accepts a $61,200 grant offered by FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security.
Fire Chief Mary Regan said that the City Council’s Finance Committee will present the Assistance to Firefighters grant her department applied for at their meeting tonight and, when the grant is accepted, requests for proposals will be circulated to businesses which can perform the work to increase safety at fire headquarters.
Regan said that a sprinkler system “probably wasn’t required by code” when the Broad Street headquarters building was built in 1972 and said “our alarm system is antiquated and I want to bring it up to code.”
She pointed out that the first floor of the two level building houses fuel, vehicles and equipment “that potentially could burn and then you have people in the living spaces” on the second floor who would be impacted by a fire in the garage space below them.
She said that a fire involving a fire vehicle in the garage area would threaten the other vehicles stored there. The loss of any fire department’s vehicle to fire would not only impact the department, she said, but by limiting the ability of firefighters to respond to emergencies, loss of equipment to fire would also have a direct impact to the larger community, as well.
“As soon as we get the okay from the City Council we’ll start working on the bids,” she said.
Regan said that the total cost of the project will be $68,000 and explained that the federal grant will fund 90 percent of the cost and the city will have to pay for the remainder.
Regan said she does not know how long the improvements will take to accomplish but predicted that a sprinkler system will require that water lines coming into the building be augmented which could extend the time needed for the project.
She said that the updated alarm system will include carbon monoxide detectors. With the many vehicles in the building, carbon monoxide is an obvious concern and Regan said that currently plug-in detectors are in use. With a new alarm system, she said, “it will be up to the regular code.”
