Responding to requests by department volunteers and Center Moriches residents, the board of fire commissioners has scheduled another vote on their plan to expand the fire department facilities on Main Street. The community will again have their say on September 12 from noon to 9:00 p.m. at the Main Street firehouse.
"It comes down to we really need the space to properly serve the community," said Commissioner Mike Schlosberg, who noted that the plan that will be put to the voters is unchanged from the referendum that failed in June by a slim 221-201 tally. The district is looking to renovate a portion of the facility originally built in 1930, bringing the overall building into compliance with current safety codes and standards and adding additional apparatus bays.
Officials say the present firehouse is in urgent need of expansion because it is too small to adequately protect the public as alarm calls have more than doubled in recent years. Emergency medical service calls have skyrocketed from 735 to 1,778 between 2010 and 2022, an increase of 142 percent. Fire call volume has increased from 347 to 539 during that same time, an increase of 55 percent.
If approved by voters, the improvements would increase fire district taxes by less than one dollar a day for average households. It keeps the cost of fire and EMS services well below that of nearby districts such as Coram, Brookhaven/Shirley, Middle Island, and North Patchogue. Fire district taxes make up less than 7.5 percent of the average Center Moriches property tax bill, fire officials note.
"Our volunteers freely give a substantial amount of their time to protect the safety of Center Moriches residents," said Commissioner Edward Stypulkowski, "yet both they and their equipment are crammed into a substandard, undersized, and obsolete firehouse. These essential renovations will bring us into compliance with current fire safety codes and standards," he added. "They'll also help protect the health and safety of our volunteer firefighters and the community at large. Our volunteers – your neighbors – are saying to the community: 'Help us help you.'"
"We're proposing an expansion, not an entirely new structure," stressed John DeLong, chairman of the Board of Commissioners. "At less than a dollar a day, this is a very affordable option. And this expansion is needed to protect the community's safety."
An apparatus bay built in 1970 is now too narrow to provide for the safety of firefighters and to allow for the efficient dispatching of emergency vehicles. An annex building, added in 1990, is now too small to accommodate modern fire trucks. A radio room, built in 2000, cannot properly house contemporary telecom gear and will be repurposed for the use of emergency medical personnel. Most days, the department staffs paramedics and EMTs 24/7.
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The department's entire communications system is now situated at basement and ground level. Based upon lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy in 2012, these telecom systems must be elevated to protect them from floods and hurricanes. In addition, the lack of separate gear storage space creates dangerously overcrowded conditions for volunteers where vehicles operate – and exposes firefighters to carcinogens.
The current firehouse also violates federal codes because of its lack of access for people with disabilities. It also lacks separate gear dressing areas for men and women volunteers and separate quarters for male and female ambulance employees. A cost analysis concluded that renovating and expanding the existing firehouse would be less expensive than building a new facility. The renovation would re-use any existing infrastructure that still meets current safety standards.
The $17.9 million bond would be supplemented by $500,000 in reserve funds, available because of careful, conservative budgeting by the Board of Fire Commissioners. It brings the total project to $18.4 million. Sandpebble Builders of Speonk will serve as construction managers.
"We answer the call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, no matter the weather conditions or even a global pandemic. Now we are asking you for help passing this bond that will not only help us in the present, but for many years to come," wrote department Chief Phil Masterson in a letter to community residents. "The Fire District has not passed a bond since the early 1970s.That's over 50 years ago, so you know this is not something that would be proposed unless it was absolutely necessary."
For more information on the project, go to www.centermorichesfd.com