SEN. BYE, REP. PISCOPO ANNOUNCE $1 MILLION IN STATE AID FOR NEW BURLINGTON FIRE STATION

BURLINGTON – State Senator Beth Bye (D-West Hartford) and state Representative John Piscopo (R-Thomaston) announced today that the State Bond Commission is expected to approve $1 million in state aid for the construction of a new fire station in the Lake Garda section of Burlington when the commission meets Friday, May 30, 2014 in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.

Sen. Bye and Rep. Piscopo have been working diligently with Burlington town and fire department officials to secure the funding.

“I’ve been working for more than a year with town leaders and the local volunteer fire department to secure this funding, which is absolutely critical to Burlington – both for the level of current fire protection services and for the future growth that this town and the region will see,” Sen. Bye said. “I’m especially pleased that the volunteer firefighters who lend their time and talents to this town and who put their lives on the line every day are going to have a modern, safe facility from which to operate. They deserve it.”

“This funding is definitely needed for the community,” said Rep. Piscopo. “Public safety is one of the core functions of government. It will serve the needs of our residents well into the future.”

Burlington First Selectman Theodore Shafer called the bonding announcement “an exciting day for Burlington.”

“I’m so grateful to Governor Malloy, Senator Bye and Representative Piscopo for their efforts in bringing attention to this need. So often people read in the newspaper about financial aid for the big cities, but it is also nice to know that elected officials are paying attention to the small towns also,” Shafer said. “We are very excited about this project. It is going to improve public safety not only in Burlington but across the region.”

In late January, Shafer wrote a letter to Governor Malloy outlining the need for a new fire station in Lake Garda. He said the existing station, built in the early 1960s, does not meet current National Fire Protection Standards for fire apparatus, nor does it meet current ADA and life safety codes.

Shafer also noted that the existing station is located in next to the Lake Garda Elementary School and is an area of town that not only has dense housing, but that could be expected to grow in future years since Burlington has approved 100 new housing starts to be built in the next three to five years. The fire department already handles about 800 fire and medical calls a year, he said.

“When the Lake Garda station is completed, it will further enhance our ability to provide fire protection to our residents, provide additional community fire prevention/first responder programs, create additional emergency sheltering, provide further training facilities as well as kitchen/sleeping areas for our firefighters,” Shafer wrote in his letter.

Timothy J. Tharau – who is chairman of the Burlington Volunteer Fire Department Building Committee and who also serves as the part-time deputy fire marshal – said the current fire station is terribly cramped. He said when the ladder truck is parked in the bay, there is only six inches of clearance on either side of the truck, and practically no clearance in the rear. That makes it difficult to clean and re-stock firefighting and emergency supplies, he said.

“It’s great to see the state supporting this project,” Tharau said. “It’s going to make a huge difference for Burlington.”

Architects have already sketched plans for a new station, which would include two bays, two bay work areas, a dispatch office, two offices, a day room, a kitchen, a multi-purpose room, two locker rooms and two storage areas. It would be able to accommodate three fire vehicles.

Shafer said after receiving the state bonding, the next step in the process will be to hold a town referendum to approve the additional, local borrowing needed to complete the project.

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