The Peru Gazette

Concept drawing of station after renovations

New space in yellow and pink

By John T Ryan

March 6, 2024 – If voters approve, the Peru Fire Station will be undergoing a significant expansion. Fire Commissioner Chairman Greg Timmons unveiled preliminary plans at the fire station last night. Engineers from Architectural Engineering and Design Associates (AEDA) also responded to questions. The department’s plans include:

• Expanding the building’s five bays by fifty feet toward Bear Swamp Road.  
• Adding a decontamination room.
• Adding a filling station/room.
• Adding a parking area east of the building
• Expanding equipment storage space and include a locker room with nearby showers and restrooms.
• Using the existing social room to expand space for ambulance EMS personnel
• Constructing a new social room
• Improving building drainage.
• Installing new furnaces/boilers.
• Adding a fitness room
• Including space for the public to see its historic fire truck

The changes would add about 5,900 square feet to the fire station and cost an estimated $3.8 million based on 2024 construction costs. Engineers estimated the additional burden on taxpayers to be just under $.52 per thousand of taxable value.

The department’s bond council is currently researching borrowing costs. After that, taxpayers will have their say in a referendum. If approved, AEDA will develop more detailed plans, advertise bids, and begin construction, hopefully no later than early 2025.

Greg Timmons summarized why the expansion is needed: “The department built the original structure in 1973. It’s aging and deteriorating. We have drainage issues. We need to get water away from the building. We started planning this about two years ago.”

Fire trucks are changing. Timmons explained, “Today’s trucks are bigger, longer, and taller. We want plenty of room for the trucks because we anticipate Peru’s future growth. We also want to meet national and state decontamination standards.”

Discussing the decontamination room, Timmons said, “Fires can leave carcinogens, toxins, and organisms on a firefighter’s gear. The skin can be affected. Departments are going to what is called the clean concept.” The new decontamination room will enable firefighters to immediately clean and blow dry their equipment while keeping contaminants isolated from the rest of the station. The locker or turnaround room will give them much more room to stow gear. It will also have an outside entrance for emergency personnel from the new parking area east of the building. All firefighters report to the station before responding to a call.

As an incentive to attract and retain members, the department purchases gym memberships for firefighters if they want to join. The fitness room will include several aerobic machines so personnel can work out at the station rather than join a gym. The room currently serving as a social room will be converted into additional space for EMS crews. There will also be a new room for social gatherings, trophies, antique nozzles, and other memorabilia. The department’s twice-restored 1926 Brockway fire truck will have a home in the glass-enclosed room facing the highway at the western end of the building. Planning for these upgrades has been taking place for over two years. Note correction of March 14, 2024. The original story stated 6,100 sq. ft. 5,900 is the correct sq. footage. 

Corrections of August 20, 2024: The original story stated a 40-foot bay expansion. A 50-foot expansion was actually being planned. It also stated gym memberships were mandatory. They are used as incentives, but they are not mandated. 

Current station’s original structure was erected in 1973.