THE NEW FIRE HEADQUARTERS is expected to be operational in late October or early November. (Dan Tomasello Photo)
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The new Fire Headquarters will be occupied and operating by either late October or early November, Department of Public Works (DPW) Director John Scenna said during a recent Select Board meeting.
Voters approved the $63.5 million public safety and Town Hall project in December 2022.
Scenna, who oversees the town’s capital projects, said construction of the new three-story, four-bay Fire Headquarters next to the existing South Station in South Lynnfield is progressing. South Station will be razed once the new Fire Headquarters is completed.
“The brick work is now complete and the staging is down,” said Scenna. “The exterior has made a lot of progress and the building is about 75 percent complete. We are targeting a turnover at some point in October and will be occupied by late October or early November.”
Scenna said the second floor of the new Fire Headquarters will serve as “a private space for firefighters.” He said the three bathrooms located on the second floor will be unisex.
“There are three of them, and they are all unisex for male or female,” said Scenna. “They are single bathrooms.”
Fire Chief/Emergency Management Director Glenn Davis said the private unisex bathrooms at both stations include showers and can be locked from the inside. He noted that there are six women who work for the Fire Department.
“It’s a bathroom,” said Davis. “Whoever is in it, occupies it. It’s a single use bathroom. We did that for usage of square footage. They are just gender neutral. That is how the bedrooms are all set up and how the bathrooms are being set up.”
Scenna said an elevator will allow people to access the third floor of Fire Headquarters, which will include office spaces for Davis and other Fire Department officials.
“The third floor is an administrative suite for the Fire Department,” said Scenna.
Scenna said the third floor will include a meeting room that can be used by firefighters, town employees and residents.
“It’s going to be a great meeting space for town government, town departments or even Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, cheer, youth soccer or youth baseball groups,” said Scenna. “Some groups are renting space now. I think in time we can make the space available through the Town Administrator’s Office. This can function separately from fire operations, which is on its own floor and is separate, private and secure from anything else that happens on this floor.”
Select Board Chair Phil Crawford asked if Fire Headquarters’ meeting room is the same size as the Al Merritt Media and Cultural Center located at MarketStreet Lynnfield.
“It’s a little smaller, but very close,” said Scenna. “The capacity is 48 people, with access to restrooms and a small little kitchenette area.”
Scenna said, “There are not a lot of bells and whistles” in the new Fire Headquarters.
Davis said both fire stations will include designated areas for cleaning turnout gear with state-of-the art washing machines along with drying racks. He noted that clean and dirty turnout gear has to be kept separate in order to reduce firefighters’ exposure to carcinogens.
“Firefighters have a 9 percent greater chance for having cancer due to on the job exposures,” said Davis. “There are dirty areas, clean areas and transition areas in between.”
Davis recalled that firefighters’ turnout gear was previously stored next to the apparatus in the old stations, which exposed them to diesel exhaust and other contaminants.
“Each station needs a dedicated turnout gear room with a private and ventilated locker space to put the turnout gear,” said Davis.
Davis said he is “heavily engaged in the procurement process” for purchasing equipment for both Fire Headquarters and the Lynnfield Center Fire Station.
Scenna said new gas lines and water lines have been installed underground at the new Fire Headquarters. He said the Post Office will not be razed when South Station gets torn down.
“We have a long-term lease with them,” said Scenna.
PSB and Town Hall
Scenna said the majority of the public safety building, which includes the renovated Center Fire Station and Police Station, as well as Town Hall has occurred in the rear of the building.
“A lot of walls came down and steel beams went up,” said Scenna.
Scenna said the renovated Police Station will have a “very efficient” layout.
“Every square foot of the first floor and the basement of this Police Station has been utilized to the ‘T,’” said Scenna.
Scenna said the renovated Police Station will include new jail cells as well as a new sally port that is a secure entryway for police officers.
“A car can come into this private area,” said Scenna. “It leads to a booking room that leads to those cells. It also leads to a private entrance for police officers. There are two separate ways in from the garages.”
Scenna said the renovated Police Station will include a new front entrance.
“When you walk into the Police Station, you are not just walking into a small little vestibule or small little area,” said Scenna. “There are restrooms there for the general public. There is a hallway where the detectives are, and there is a room where the chief or his staff can bring people in to have a discussion.”
Scenna said dispatchers will work behind a new glass wall at the renovated Police Station. He also said the station will include a training room for police officers.
As part of the renovated Town Hall, Scenna said every department will have a “transaction window.”
“The general public will not have a need to go into departments,” said Scenna. “Before when you went into a department, there was a counter in the space. We gained space by putting these transaction windows in. Any department that interacts with the general public from Inspectional Services, Planning, Public Works, Town Clerk and Assessor all have these transaction windows right in the hallway.”
Scenna said the Town Hall addition will include a new H. Joseph Maney Meeting Room, which he said is “a little smaller” than the Al Merritt Media and Cultural Center.
“It will have a vaulted ceiling,” said Scenna. “The backside has a little kitchenette and public restrooms. This area can be accessed through the addition, so the rest of Town Hall can be locked at night.”
The Town Hall addition will also include an elevator in order to make the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Police Chief Nick Secatore informed the Villager that all four buildings will have “a room that houses the network and backend computer equipment for that building.”
“The systems that are connected to all buildings such as the access control system for the doors will be located in the police room,” said Secatore.
Secatore said during the Select Board’s meeting that the old buildings “had been retrofitted over the years.”
“We now have a central fiber hub,” said Secatore. “It’s just like your home router. They all have modern server rooms with HVAC in each. We used to run out of a couple of closets.”
Secatore said the technology budget for the project totals $1 million, which he said is “under budget and on time.”
“Everything is modern and state-of-the-art,” said Secatore. “It is something that we are proud of and the town will be proud of.”
In response to a question from Select Board Vice Chair Alexis Leahy, Secatore said the technology room at Fire Headquarters will serve as a backup if the power goes out in Lynnfield Center.
“It does backup off-site and can run off-site,” said Secatore.
Scenna also said new generators will be located at all four buildings.
“The generators will run tech, safety lights and 911 at both sites,” said Scenna.
Crawford asked when the public safety building and Town Hall portion of the project will be completed.
Scenna anticipates the renovated public safety building and Town Hall will be occupied by next January.
“We remain on budget,” said Scenna.
Select Board member Dick Dalton said Davis and Secatore’s work on the public safety and Town Hall project “has been invaluable.”
“Both of you have contributed to a very successful project,” said Dalton.