Will Three Valley Towns Share Emergency Bldg.?

By Martha Slater

At the invitation of the Rochester Selectboard, members of the fire departments from Rochester, Hancock and Granville, the Valley Rescue Squad and Rochester Constable Simpson met last week to discuss the possibility of working together in all areas of emergency services.

The three town fire departments already have a mutual aid agreement and routinely respond to each other’s calls. In recent years, all the departments have suffered from a lack of volunteers, for a variety of reasons. All those present at the meeting agreed that it looked like paid personnel were going to be necessary in the future. Jim Parrish of the Valley Rescue Squad, which already has some paid staff, said they were in desperate need of volunteers, as well.

Those present agreed it was a good idea to explore the possibility of building one shared facility, and the meeting turned into a brainstorming session about what would be needed. One thing stressed was that the building should incorporate a central training facility, since each local department lacks adequate training space. A large room on the ground floor of the building was what Rochester Fire Chief Terry Severy explained was needed.

Rochester Selectboard chair Larry Straus asked Parrish if there would be any financial impetus for the VRS to share this facility if there was a savings involved. The possibility of the VRS becoming a municipal entity was also discussed.

"We’ve been trying for several years now to get the three towns to cooperate," said Hancock fireman Rob Deering. "Do we really need three fire departments? We have one Rescue Squad in the valley and that seems to work quite well."

Severy noted that Rochester had long been in need of a new fire building since the current one is too small, with inadequate facilities and there is no room for expansion.

"We know we need a new fire building, but we don’t know exactly what we’ll need it to house," Straus said. "The ideal thing would be to pre-plan the likelihood that our town and the two north of us will work together."

Several possible locations on Route 100 were suggested for a shared firehouse facility, all of them north of Rochester village, in order for it to make it more viable for Hancock and Granville to participate. One was in the area of Martin’s Bridge, another just north of the old Chips ’n Bits building, and another near the U.S. Forest Service building.

It was agreed that the site would need to be a minimum of three acres, and five would be ideal for room for septic, etc. If all three towns were involved, the building would need to have five double bays (with doors on each end). There would need to be sleeping and bathroom facilities, too, as well as office space and a radio room. If local law enforcement officers were involved, there would need to be an office and lock-up space for them, too.

Several different ways of sharing the financial load between the three towns were discussed. It was noted that if all three departments worked together, they could sell some of the duplicated equipment.

Charlie Biederman and Nancy Woolley volunteered to do a preliminary real estate search, identify possible sites, and research estimated costs.

Severy said he would research insurance underwriters’ requirements and also contact the members of all three fire departments. He gave his opinion that, "we really need to sit down and iron things out and work together. In the long run, we’ll all end up with stronger departments."

Everyone present agreed that it had been a productive meeting and a promising start had been made for future cooperation in the valley. The group will meet again Thursday, Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. at the Rochester Town Office to discuss the results of their preliminary investigations. After that, a joint meeting will be planned with all three selectboards and emergency personnel from all three towns to discuss the possibilities.

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