The new Lynnfield Fire Department Headquarters is a “huge step forward from where we were,” said Capt. Chris Caveleri.
The old station at the top of the hill was a single floor — a little more than a garage bay — that was originally designed for a primarily volunteer fire department in the early 1960s. Back then, LFD firefighters weren’t in the station 24 hours a day, so there were no dedicated sleeping quarters or office facilities.
When the old station was designed, there were no women in the department, “so as women became members of the fire department, there were really no accommodations for them to have any privacy,” said Caveleri.
Back then, LFD didn’t provide EMS service, either, so the old station just wasn’t well equipped to store all the supplies and equipment needed.
There was little in the way of decontamination facilities, and as the risks of carcinogens from both the fires — soot and smoke from burning plastics, treated wood, and everything else a fire produces — and from the agents and materials used to extinguish those fires became better known, that became a greater and greater concern.
As the department expanded and became a full-time service, the facilities were not quite up-to-snuff, but according to Caveleri, “as members of the fire service do,” the LFD made it work.
They converted part of the garage bay to be sleeping quarters, living with the hustle and bustle — and the engine exhaust and fire contamination. They converted one closet to store EMS supplies and fit another with a “gear cleaner and extractor.” Gear was stored out in the open, and would get hosed down after use.
The new building has everything the old one lacked. The apparatus bay is larger and more well equipped, with exhaust extractors and enough space to fit two engines, a ladder truck, and ambulances. There are living quarters with a fully equipped kitchen, day room, and bedrooms. There is a dedicated EMS supply and equipment storage. The building is even separated into a contaminated versus clean area to limit the exposure firefighters have to the carcinogens inherent to the job. And, of course, there are accommodations for female firefighters.
The new facility also has dedicated training areas, providing the LFD with the ability to take their skills to the next level in-house rather than limiting them to training when and where they can at other municipal buildings in town or at neighboring departments. Now they can train any time, even between calls, without needing to
pre-plan and dedicate entire blocks of time that might be interrupted by calls. They can even host neighboring departments for drills and other organizations, such as search and rescue, for confined space rescue training.
The training facility has a dedicated standpipe system separate from the building’s actual fire suppression system and dedicated windows for ladder entry training. There is a bailout training setup — all firefighters are issued a 50 foot bailout rope and descender device to enable them to get out of buildings when other paths are blocked — and a manhole/confined space simulator for rescue training. There are even reinforced steel eyelets for rappelling in the training stairwell.
The dedicated decontamination area is fully kitted out with multiple industrial-sized gear washers, an industrial dryer, and a decontamination shower for pre-washing dirt and soot off of gear as well as dedicated showers for deep cleaning after a call. The gear storage area is located next to the decontamination space rather than having gear racks in the apparatus bay. There is even an “airlock,” keeping the clean side of the facility separated from the contaminated side, and a positive pressure system that prevents contaminated dust and debris from wafting into the clean side.
The living quarters are spacious and communally focused. The kitchen and day room is large enough to hold all the firefighters on-call for “family dinners,” and the bedrooms are large enough to be comfortable without distractions, such as TVs, encouraging department members to spend time together instead of holed-up by themselves. There is even a fire pole, both useful and symbolic for a department that previously had no need for one in the single story of the old station.
This new facility is designed to be future-proof as much as possible, and it is intended to serve for 75 years, in line with current standards of department design. With the dedication of the fire department, the facility will serve the community for that time or longer, keeping the LFD as safe and comfortable as such a demanding job allows for over the years to come.
