East Beth plans for new fire station
A rendering of the new East Bethlehem Township fire station
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
The current East Bethlehem Township fire station sits at 831 Crawford Road in Fredericktown.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
Plans are in the works to replace the East Bethlehem Township fire station in Fredericktown.
Volunteer firefighters in East Bethlehem Township are excited to finally have plans for a new fire station.
Work has been underway on the project for about the last two years, but renderings, funding and a timeline are ready and waiting, as long as the COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t delay construction plans, according to Matt Babko, president of the company.
Fire Chief Mark Giovanelli said crews were hoping to break ground “in the next couple weeks.”
“We were hoping to be in the new building by July,” he said.
The current station sits at 831 Crawford Road in Fredericktown. The original building was built in the 1920s. It was a train station with railroad tracks nearby, Giovanelli said.
When the department formed in 1923, firefighters turned the building into a fire station with bay doors and a social hall on the second floor. The larger addition on the building came decades later, according to Giovanelli.
Because of its age, the station now has many limitations, like its height.
“The last three major pieces of equipment we purchased had to be customized because the ceiling height is so low,” Babko said.
Customizing each piece of apparatus costs about $50,000 extra, Giovanelli said. He said there’s also no air conditioning on the engines because of the height restrictions.
Also, the station only has two bay doors, one on either side of the building. The one in the back, however, can only be used by smaller trucks, because the road has been built up so much to support the railroad tracks.
“When you have to drive a piece of equipment around the block just to get another truck or trailer out of there, that can be a problem,” Giovanelli said.
The new station will be built next to the American Legion, at 501 Front Street. The building used to be a theater, until about 20 years ago, when the fire department purchased it, Babko said. They wanted to turn it into a social hall and event center.
“When we got architects involved to find out what it would take, it was way too expensive,” Babko said.
The department used it for storage instead. Then, in 2016, a “microburst” ripped through Fredericktown and caused the roof to collapse, Babko said.
“Something happened with a weather event and the roof had fallen in,” he said.
The insurance company paid for the demolition, which the township gave the department a week to complete because of safety concerns. The fire department is receiving insurance money from the collapse, which will pay for the new station, Babko said.
“We’re building within the means of that insurance coverage,” he said. “Our goal is to not surpass that, so we don’t have to worry about other means to complete the project. We do a lot of fundraising just to maintain operations and costs.”
Babko said the department is hoping to sell or rent out the current station building.
“It has a social hall, kitchen, bar and meeting room,” he said. “The building itself is in great shape.”
Giovanelli said the small department relies on annual donations from the township and Deemston Borough. They have 26 volunteers and average between eight and 11 firefighters responding per call.
Everyone has been on board with building the new station, and the department received an outpouring of support from the community, Giovanelli said.
“Anything we do is by the vote of the membership,” he said. “Community folks who have been to our building and have seen how we’re positioned in here, they support us.”
For a volunteer department, building a new station has proven to be a huge time and financial commitment. Babko has been meeting with the architects, figuring out drainage plans and working with the insurance company.
“It’s a lot of work, and Matt has put a lot of time into this,” Giovanelli said.