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New fire station opens in Plymouth as Chief says other houses are unsafe too

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Plymouth firefighters have a new home after one of the town’s firehouses had to close last year because it was deemed structurally unsafe.

After 114 years, firefighters said goodbye to Station 7 on Spooner Street in November 2019 because of crumbling concrete and asbestos.

Testing found asbestos in plaster samples. Firefighters who had worked at Station 7 over the past two decades had to be tested for possible asbestos exposure.

Monday morning, firefighters marched from the old station to the new, just down the road, and bells tolled in celebration.

Plymouth Fire Department Chief Ed Bradley said the old station had “long time leaks, asbestos in the joint compounds and the plaster on the walls.”

The new firehouse, a $6.7 million project, has “all the modern conveniences,” Bradley said, including heated floors in the winter and individual bunk rooms instead of communal bunk rooms.

The opening of the new Station 7 comes as Station 2 in West Plymouth is under scrutiny. Bradley said the firehouse is no longer safe for firefighters to be there.

He said Station 2 is plagued by electrical problems, a broken HVAC system, a leaky ceiling, asbestos and more.

In a letter that Bradley wrote to the Plymouth Select Board, dated July 3, Bradley addressed the “squalor conditions” of the West Plymouth Fire Station.

He wrote that the station has had roof leaks for over six years and that during a project to replace 45-year-old overhead doors, the “replacement project was not without problems that caused serious safety concerns for the staff working at the station.”

Bradley wrote that a lack of maintenance has caused the building to deteriorate. Attempts to repair HVAC systems in two areas of the facility caused water leaks to walls and ceilings. When trying to repair those systems, asbestos materials were released.

“Six months ago, everyone was horrified when they learned of the conditions and saw pictures of the stations, today these issues are somewhat forgotten due to current events,” Bradley wrote.

He proposes the town relocate Station 2 firefighters to mobile living trailers to sleep in while repairs are being made and until they can work in a “safe and healthy environment.”

Bradley said that fire stations 4 and 5 and headquarters all need significant repairs, too. A new facilities manager for Plymouth will help keep track of maintenance at these houses, he added.

Plymouth’s Select Board is set to discuss this idea at their next meeting Tuesday.