North Hempfield Fire Station 501 renovations near completion

Hempfield’s $2 million fire station project will take a few weeks past its intended deadline to finish construction, but is on track be completed by early December.

Renovations at the nearly 50-year-old North Hempfield Volunteer Fire Department Station 501 started in May, and initially were projected to finish at the end of October. The township has been working with contractors to redo the inside and exterior of the building, bringing the 1977 facility up to code and introducing new amenities and safety features for the station’s volunteer firefighters.

Since the start of the construction, firefighters have worked out of a side building on the property and sheltered their trucks under a temporary structure next to the building.

According to township Manager Aaron Siko, the renovations will be complete enough by the end of the month to move the trucks back into the building, but some additional work will be done in the following two weeks to bring the project to a close.

The construction costs for the building itself amount to about $1.8 million, and the furnishings and appliances will cost $200,000, bringing the total project to $2 million, Siko said.

“For all intents and purposes, the project is on schedule,” he said at a Hempfield Township meeting Wednesday night. “We will be substantially completed to have the trucks in the building, and that is obviously the most pressing issue. As we continue to get updates and a little clearer picture on when the official move-in date will be, we will let you know.”

Fire Chief and Director of Emergency Services Anthony Kovacic attributed the delays to supply chain issues.

“We’re on track to have everything in the apparatus bay on the 31st, which is what we intended,” he said.

Over the remainder of October, major progress will be made on the front of the building, Kovacic said.

“When that floor is done and those glass garage doors are in in the next 10 days, it’s really going to pop. It will look nice,” he said. “Over the next two weeks, you are going to see a lot of things shaking out.”

The Station 501 renovation is the second major fire department project to be undertaken in the township in recent years, as the fire department headquarters next to the municipal building was finished earlier this year.

The new version of the station is converting some of the rooms used for banquets, fundraisers and social events to a firefighting and training focus. The former banquet hall will house a classroom and weight and gym room, Kovacic said in July, as well as dorm quarters for firefighters who stay at the station.

Renovations also include revising the internal layout of the building to allow gear and equipment to be stored in a separate room from the fire engines, making decontamination easier and safer.