Willingboro firefighters will get a $10 million hall to replace 'dilapidated' quarters

A firehouse in Willingboro built nearly five decades ago -- before the fire department had a full-time staff that requires sleeping quarters -- will finally be replaced, after the Township Council voted this week to accept a $10.1 million bid for a new facility.

Fire officials say the project is long overdue.

"We started this in 2008, before the economy took a nose dive. … Then when bids came in around $11.5 million, we had to deal with cutbacks, because the town wanted to pay around $10 million," Fire Capt. Douglas Ramsey said Thursday.

The Fire Department has 20 full-time paid firefighters and handles about 100 calls a month in the Burlington County town of 33,000 residents, Ramsey said.  The firefighters sleep in converted offices in the "completely dilapidated building," he said.

Conceptual plans call for a 35,000-square-foot building with 25 dormitory-style rooms.

The new fire hall and emergency services building will be constructed on the site of the existing structure after it is demolished, interim Township Manager Richard Brevogel said. It is expected to open in August 2018.

Brevogel said the town solicited bids last August and October, and rejected all because they were too costly, at $11.5 million to $12.5 million. In December, Arthur J. Ogren Inc. of Vineland, N.J., came in with the bid that was accepted.

To trim the cost, Brevogel said, new specifications were created, reducing some of the exterior brickface and replacing tiled flooring with carpets. He also said some of the overhead doors were modified.

"We're very excited about having a new facility for our firefighters and the community," he said.

Mayor Chris Walker said the project was scaled back for budgetary reasons, but care was taken to "make sure we didn't cut corners."

He said the council made replacing the facility a priority this year and unanimously approved the bid.

"For years, we had a volunteer fire department, but in early 2000, we went to a full-time-firefighter department.  We need to be able to accommodate the firefighters to stay overnight during their shifts, and to update the building to fit the new trucks and equipment," Walker said.

About five or six volunteers supplement the staff, Ramsey said. He said the new building will also include quarters for the emergency squad, now housed in an adjacent building.

The seven-square-mile township has one fire hall.  Two smaller fire stations were closed and put up for auction in 2015.   One was sold to a construction company, but the sale of the second to the Life Fountain Bible Church Inc. of Willingboro was not finalized, and the facility is being used by the firefighters as a fitness center.

The new facility will include a fitness center and more.  Instead of one shower at the fire hall, there will be several.  And roll-away cots will be replaced with beds.