The Lynnfield Fire Department (LFD) finished moving into their new headquarters at 1100 Summer St. this Sunday.
The department took official possession of the building the week of Oct. 6, but it did not immediately move all operations into the building. That changed around 11 a.m. Sunday morning when the LFD ceremonially “called off the air” from the old station and called in the new station as “center of operations,” according to LFD Chief Glenn Davis.
Sunday night was the first night the firefighters spent in the new station, but just because they have moved in does not mean the work on the building is over. The contractors and architects are still making adjustments, both checking off known “punch list” items around the station and making adjustments as the people of the LFD use the facilities and notice needed changes in real time.
The firefighters themselves are also busy getting the new station organized. All furniture, supplies, and equipment were brought in from the old station and from off-site storage, and all of it must find its place in the new station.
“We moved furniture and equipment from the old firehouse that was in storage, some of it, because we had a lack of space and there was nowhere to put all of it,” said Davis. “So there’s a lot of that going on today. Shelves are getting stocked.”
The station at 1100 Summer St. boasts upgraded locker room facilities, including single-occupant bathrooms and dedicated locker rooms with showers for both men and women. This is a big upgrade for the LFD’s six woman firefighters, who shared facilities in the old station.
The new station also separates the “clean areas” from the “dirty” areas, according to Davis, “to try to prevent the high incidence rate of cancer among firefighters.” The chief is referring to the contamination that firefighters are frequently exposed to in the course of their duties. Contaminating chemicals come from both the burning buildings themselves and from chemicals used by firefighters to help put out fires, and without separating “dirty” areas from “clean” the contamination can spread around the space and build up over time.
It was a bittersweet day for the longtime fire chief.
“There’s a lot of memories in that building and we hope to make a lot of new ones here,” Davis said. “But, there’s a lot of memories in those walls … (from) coming back from bad calls and being able to debrief and decompress with each other. Those walls have heard a lot of things in that old firehouse.”
Still, Chief Davis called the day “touching,” saying “It’s been a long time coming and a lot of prep work to make today happen. It was quite the morning. It really was.”
