My Hometown Fire Department Chili Fire Department Unveils New Fire Hall

by Colleen Onuffer

On Saturday, April 22, with lights flashing and sirens blaring, fire trucks of Chili Fire Department Company 1 relocated from their former hall to their new location at 3225 Chili Avenue.

A grand opening ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 10, at 11 a.m. Following a short ceremony, the hall will be available to the public for an open house.

“We’re very excited for our new, state-of-the-art space,” said Chris Fish of the Chili Fire Department. During his 34 years as a firefighter, he’s held the roles of fire chief and president of the organization.

Construction of the hall began about three years ago – but the project has been at least ten years in the making.

“As the town’s needs have evolved over the last 50 years, the fire department also needed to evolve and keep up,” said Fish. With the age of the former building, the organization needed to make decisions on whether to invest in roofing, structural, and heating and air upgrades versus a more modern building. Another reason for the new hall was the need for bigger apparatus bays for storing the vehicles. The department’s new ladder truck barely fit in the old hall’s bays, leaving only a few inches to spare.

Unlike other fire districts, Chili Fire Department is a private entity that is contracted through the Town of Chili each year. Funding for the project came from the town, without the need to raise taxes.

“Town Supervisor Dunning and the Town Board are great partners for us. They understand our value to the community and they wanted to invest in that,” said Fish, grateful for their sup- port. “They understood we’ve been struggling with the upkeep of this old building and knew that modernizing would better serve our growing community.”

At roughly 20,000 square feet, the new hall includes a dispatch area, apparatus bays, training room and meeting room, and incorporates the business offices, which were in a separate building previously. Advanced audio and visual capabilities have been incorporated throughout the building, improving the department’s communication and training abilities. The new building also features bunk-in sleeping quarters with eight individual bedrooms.

“Our volunteers can now spend the night when we know we have a big storm coming. Previously, folks would come down to continued on page 5 continued from page 4 the fire hall and sleep on the couches,” said Fish. Since fire trucks require a minimum of four volunteers to go out, the eight new rooms could mean two trucks are ready to go when needed. “They don’t have to worry now about driving to the station during a storm. This allows for a very prompt response.”

Another valuable design feature of the new hall is the separation of hot and cold zones.

“There’s been lots of focus on carcinogens and the safety of our firefighters,” said Fish. In the previous hall, there weren’t dedicated areas where contaminants would remain. “We came back from a fire call and realized we couldn’t accommodate that… volunteers were tramping through lounge and meeting hall areas with their boots, soiled gear and the soot.”

Now, there is a space, the hot zone, where dirty gear is removed and cleaned off. Firefighters then walk into the clean room space or cold zone, without the threat of bringing carcinogens through common areas.

“This is a long-term benefit to our people,” said Fish. “We have to be mindful of the health and welfare of the firefighters.” continued on page 6

Currently, 110 volunteers across the CFD’s four firehouses respond to the town’s 1,000+ calls a year. To better serve the community, the department is continually looking to recruit volunteers for both interior and exterior firefighting duties. No experience is necessary as the department provides all necessary training. There is also the explorer program open to youth ages 14 to 18, allowing them to get involved, socialize and learn skills that they can apply back in life.

“It’s very rewarding to get to know people in our community.