Opinion: Appoint Frontline Firefighters To Building Committee for New Fire Station
The town manager will soon appoint a committee to begin planning a new Amherst fire station. Photo: Amherst Firefighters Local 1764
By Art and Maura Keene
Town Manager Paul Bockelman indicated in his Town Manager report of October 7, 2024 that he would soon appoint a committee to oversee the construction of a new South Amherst Fire Station. It is essential that Bockelman appoint front-line firefighters to this committee. After decades of working in inadequate and unsafe conditions, the folks on the front line deserve a seat at the table. There is no substitute for their expertise concerning what we need in a fire station and what features of a station will effectively meet the needs of our firefighters. (See here and here for information about the work of the 2006 and 2016 fire station planning committees.)
At the Town Council meeting of Nov. 18, Bockelman informed the council that he was recommending that the town’s Hickory Ridge property be used for the site of the new fire station and asked the council to approve that decision at theirDec. 2 meeting. At that meeting the council said that they were not ready to vote on Hickory Ridge, noting that the Finance Committee had yet to discuss that proposal and that the council had not been provided any background information on the proposed site, nor an analysis of pros and cons, nor a presentation of possible alternatives.
It is noteworthy that in an interview with the Indy published September 20, 2024, Sarah Forsaith and and Nick Chirekos, respectively President and Vice President of Amherst Firefighters Union Local 1764, suggested that the Hickory Ridge site was a poor option, given that most calls that they receive originate near the center of town and that there are actually few calls to South Amherst. In that interview, Chirekos also noted that as far as he knew, no Amherst firefighters had been approached for design input on the proposed new building.
It may be, as Bockelman alluded, that there is no other reasonable option for constructing a new firehouse in Amherst other than Hickory Ridge. A clear advantage of the site is that it is available and already owned by the town. But to our knowledge (and apparently the Town Council’s) there has been no public discussion of the pros and cons of the Hickory Ridge site relative to other potential sites. The concerns of Forsaith and Chireckos deserve a full public airing.
Art Keene is a resident of District 3, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at UMass, and the Managing Editor of the Amherst Indy.
Maura Keene is a retired obstetrician-gynecologist at BayState Health Systems. She is a frequent contributor to the Amherst Indy.
Getting input from the AFD is crucial, of course. Fire Departments are equipment and location sensitive. The Chief or his designee should have a seat at the table and right away.
The Hickory Ridge site is about 170 feet lower than the current downtown station. Will that affect communications? A quick and dirty radio propagation study might be helpful if that has not already been done. Will the Town continue to provide amubulance service, also an important question. If the Town is making a profit or at least breaking even by billing insurance companies for services then no reason not to continue. Serving on an ambulance is a valuable career path for our stalwarts in the AFD.
A new fire station would be an excellent place to start a standing building committee like many Mass. Cities and Towns use. Imagine having a building committee that has the interests of the whole town at heart and knowledge and respect for how public construction is supposed to happen. Let’s stop handing our most complicated and expensive projects to public construction amateurs who disappear after one pet project.
A friend suggested that the existing DPW site is big enough for the new DPW headquarters and a fire station.
Both departments use large vehicles that need a lot of maintenance so one large garage in the middle and DPW offices on one end and AFD offices on the other. Plus, just one fuel depot needed. The site is closer to downtown and more of AFD calls.