DALTON, Mass. — The Fire District is revisiting how to address its space limitations and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance issues. 

 

The Board of Water Commissioners established an ad hoc committee last month to investigate the options to address the station's needs in a feasible manner. 

 

There are a lot of unknowns right now, said Chair James Driscoll. 

 

During a tour of the station on Oct. 21, many ideas were tossed around, including building an addition, clearing outdated and unused equipment, reorganizing the space, and renting space next to the station. 

 

However, it was highlighted during the meeting that it is unclear whether these ideas are feasible and compatible with the current building's condition. 

 

Which is why the committee was established — to review options, costs, and make recommendations on how to proceed, Driscoll said. 

 

Serving on the committee is interim Fire Chief Chris Cachat, Charlotte Crane, fire prevention officer and emergency medical technician, Prudential Committee member Dennis Croughwell, and commissioner Camillus Cachat. 

 

During the tour, Driscoll demonstrated how the station has had foundation issues when previously considering additions. 

 

It may come down to needing to relocate the fire station if the other options are not possible or are too costly — that is another thing the committee will explore, he said. 

 

"I think it's important how you go about doing this. Once we figure out what our needs are, figure out whether we can do it in this building, because if we can't do it in this building, there is no sense of spending additional money in this building," Driscoll said. 

 

"If we deem that this building has out used its natural life, and we can't make this work, then we're going to have to go and say, 'We need a new station. Now this is what it's going to cost.'" 

 

The need for more space at the fire station has been in discussion, on and off, for several years. 

 

What had been highlighted previously was reiterated again during the tour — that there is not enough space for its fire trucks, not enough space for offices and training, not enough space for downtime areas, and not enough space for all the equipment it needs. 

 

This coupled with the station's lack of compliance with ADA requirements, which has resulted in open meeting law violations, has made it clear to the district that they need to find solutions. 

 

Years ago, when ADA was first enacted, the district looked into installing an elevator. However, it was determined that it was not feasible. The committee will investigate whether there are newer or other strategies to become ADA compliant.

 

Currently, the monthly meetings are held on the second floor of the fire station, which requires advance accommodation requests for those with mobility disabilities due to its lack of ADA compliance. 

 

The district has been in communication with the Senior Center to see if it can move its monthly meetings there and uses the Stationary Factory for its annual meetings. 

 

In a follow-up, when asked whether they considered using Zoom, Driscoll said they will look into it but prefer relocating their meetings to an ADA-compliant venue, because technology like that can be a struggle for older people, and some may not have wi-fi capabilities. 

 

To help mitigate cost, fire station staff have been working to renovate the basement of the fire station. The basement is used for a day room and workout/decompression area by staff. 

 

So far, the staff have stripped the wallpaper in preparation to paint, have started plasterboard repairs, and will be repairing the plumbing and putting up ceilings, said interim Fire Chief Chris Cachat.

 

"They're trying to save people some money, they've got some ambition, and they want to make their station a better place to be," he said. 

 

The apparatus bay is also in need of more space, especially in the winter when more items need to be stored inside, Crane said. 

 

The station has two sleeping quarters, which need two means of egress, she said. The rooms were described as cramped, with beds and lockers taking up most of the space.

 

The administrative office is also small and filled with files. It was asked whether they can upload the documents to the cloud but the district's treasurer and clerk, Melanie Roucoulet said that the district is required to keep hard copies of some things. She said she will look into what can be uploaded. 

 

It was questioned whether having a satellite station would assist the department, which was something they considered previously to improve response time. 

 

Cachat cautioned against this because of staffing challenges.