Date: Fri 19-Jun-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Hook-&-Ladder-firehouse

Full Text:

Problems At Hook & Ladder Firehouse Are Longstanding

(with cut)

BY STEVE BIGHAM

The structural problems at the Hook & Ladder Firehouse should come as no

surprise to town officials. They have known about them for years -- at least

those in the older section of the building.

Engineers first recognized the deficiencies in the old building's floor slabs

more than a decade ago. Only now, after a recent inspection, has the problem

reached a level where trucks had to be removed from their bays. Structural

problems were also found in the building's newer section (built during the

1960s), which town officials said they were unaware of.

Two weeks ago, trucks were ordered off the floor by engineer Richard Marnicki

of Southbury. The decision forced the department to store more than a million

dollars worth of fire-fighting apparatus outside.

Over the past week, steel beams have been installed in several areas

underneath the building's upper bay and the fire company has been given

approval to pull the trucks back inside. The cost of the project was about

$25,000, which First Selectman Herb Rosenthal pulled from the town's

contingency fund, calling the situation an emergency. This is not a long-term

fix, he said.

Some said the incident could have been avoided had the town responded to pleas

in the past to improve the structural condition of the building. As with Town

Hall South, the situation became an emergency and forced town action.

In a 1986 study by DiSalvo Associates of Ridgefield, it was determined that

the slab making up the garage floor above the department's lounge was in need

of repair.

"Both the concrete and steel beams are structurally adequate to support the

loads of the two fire trucks. The slab itself, however, was found to be

structurally deficient in two areas," the report stated.

The first deficiency, according to the 12-year-old report, involved a weakness

in the steel reinforcement mechanism within the slab. The second deficiency

had to do with an overall lack of reinforcement within the slab, which left

the floor "unable to adequately resist the forces created by the imposed loads

of the two fire trucks."

DiSalvo recommended adding new steel beams perpendicular to the existing steel

and concrete beams. It also recommended the new beams be placed directly

beneath the existing slab in the vicinity of the wheel paths of the fire

trucks.

In 1985, DiSalvo noticed a crack in the west wall of the building's addition.

The report stated that the crack may be the result of a differential

settlement of the wall footings. However, the engineers were unable to

determine if the crack posed a major structural problem.

The report was submitted to the town's Public Building Committee, which agreed

with the findings, then passed them on to then First Selectman Jack Rosenthal.

The study was requested by the fire department in April of 1985 after members

noticed numerous structural problems. According to the former fire chief, Mike

McCarthy, concerns about the structural integrity of the floor go all the way

back to the 1960s.

In 1990, the Hook & Ladder Fire Company asked the Board of Selectmen for

$700,000 to correct some of the building's safety/fire code violations and

structural problems. However, the selectmen deleted the item from the

operating budget before passing it on to the Legislative Council. Then First

Selectman Zita McMahon said her board needed more information.

Similar requests were made again from 1992-97 and most recently in the 1998-99

budget. Few of the requests were met with much luck, some were even turned

down by the Board of Fire Commissioners before ever reaching the council or

selectmen.

"This is the fourth Board of Selectmen we've gone through, but we haven't been

able to get the thing through," H&L member Bill McCarthy told the selectmen

this past February.

Mr Rosenthal said part of the problem may have been that today's fire trucks

are far more heavy than those from the 1960s.