AARON LEO aleo@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 12/27/2007 11:06:00 PM EST
BRIDGEPORT — The city has offered temporary shelter to one of the fire companies displaced when their 245 Ocean Terrace fire station was closed in early December for emergency repairs for a collapsed floor.
One company, comprised of four firefighters, could stay in a trailer, city officials said. Their truck would be parked in a usable section of the damaged firehouse. The other company would remain at Wood Avenue station, where the firefighters have been staying since the closure, officials said.
The trailer could arrive by early January, according to city documents.
"We can use that trailer for a significant period of time," said Fire Chief Brian Rooney.
The move follows concerns over increased response times.
The Ocean Terrace station, in the West End, is the closest one to the city's Black Rock neighborhood. The two companies there are first responders to Black Rock, but Wood Avenue is more than a mile east of Ocean Terrace, adding one to three minutes or more to the department's stated goal of a four- minute response time.
The temporary housing proposal is part of a $500,000 bond request to repair the station. The City Council's Budget and Appropriations Committee recommended it to the full council after an emergency meeting Thursday night. The full council next meets Jan. 7.
Also approved was the option to seek more funding to repair the West End station's flat roof.
Several city officials attended the meeting, including Ted Grabarz, acting director of the city's Department of Public Facilities.
"I've never seen anything of this magnitude," Grabarz said of the damage to the station. "We're going to have to replace the entire house drain, replace the slab and the sub-base."
The repairs will "bring the building back to an operational level," buying time to find a permanent solution. He said repairs could be finished by early March.
The 13,384-square-foot station, built in 1970, was assessed in fiscal year 2006 at about $1.23 million, according to city land records.
The floor collapsed because the station settled over the years on the fill on which it was built, city officials said. Underground pipes then rotted or broke, causing drainage problems. Just before it was closed, the roof drains became totally clogged, Rooney said.
Also attending the meeting were Deputy Fire Chief Robert Petrucelli; state Rep. Robert T. Keeley, D-Bridgeport; Michael Lupkus, the city's finance director; and Tom Sherwood, the office and policy management director.
Keeley, the chairman of the state Finance Committee's bonding subcommittee, said Black Rock residents called him, concerned about the response time.
Intensifying the issue is a Fairfield Avenue fire that killed a 1-year-old and his parents on Dec. 7, shortly after the firehouse was closed. It took firefighters seven minutes to get there from Wood Avenue, but Rooney has said it's not clear how a faster response time would have affected the outcome.
Keeley said he's seeking money from the state to reimburse the city for the repairs. "I'm making some headway, but I can't guarantee" approval, he said.
City Councilwoman AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia, D-134, asked for the roof to be considered in the repair-bonding request. "I'd rather see the whole thing all together. Give me the whole picture," she said.
Rooney said experts have evaluated the roof and recommend replacement.
A flat roof could cost up to $750,000, Grabarz estimated.