Firefighters return to Ocean Terrace

AARON LEO
Article Last Updated: 07/16/2008 04:26:02 PM EDT

Bridgeport Fire Chief Brian Rooney leaves the firehouse on Ocean Terrace Tuesday following his weekly staff meeting with captains from around the city. The firehouse, which is home to Engine 7 and Ladder 11, just reopened after extensive repairs were completed to serious structural defects. (Ned Gerard/Staff photographer)

BRIDGEPORT — Terri Smith is enthusiastic about the return of old neighbors to Ocean Terrace.

The "neighbors" are the firefighters of Engine 7 and Ladder 11 whose station, around the corner from the Yacht Street resident's home, was closed last November while $500,000 in repairs were made to the facility.

Smith said she saw the familiar fire trucks pulling back into the station the other day.

"I said, 'They're back!'" Smith said.

Carrying a fruit basket, she visited the firehouse yesterday because, "I just wanted to say, 'Thank you.' "

The firefighters based at Ocean Terrace — nicknamed "7-11" because of the numerals designating the units — officially moved back in Friday, according to Capt. Luis Rivera Jr., a Fire Department spokesman.

Built in 1970 on a landfill, the fire station suffered damage that got worse over the years. The floor sank and cracked the plumbing beneath, causing drainage problems.

The renovated station has an entirely new garage floor, Rivera said.

"They had to jackhammer this whole floor," he said to remove the damaged surface. "They shored it up to the point where it won't settle" again. Electric wiring was also re-routed.

The project so far cost the full $500,000 bonded by the city. "They used every cent," Rivera said.

Left undone were some repairs that could cost as much as much as $1 million, such as replacing the roof and windows, and new overhead garage doors, Rivera said.

Despite that, the firefighters were happy to be back at their home base, which provides primary fire coverage for the city's West End and Black Rock neighborhoods.

The department strives for a response time of less than four minutes to any emergency.

A fast response to calls by the firefighters resonates with Smith, whose sister had a heart attack in January 1998.

"They were the first ones to get the house," she said of the 7-11 crew. "They were there." And even though her sister ultimately died, but getting a fast response was reassuring, she said.

Then last year, Smith's aunt suffered a stroke. Again, she said, the firefighters from 7-11 responded quickly to the emergency.

But questions about response time by the 7-11 firefighters arose after a fatal fire last December, a few days after the station was closed for repairs.

In the meantime, the firefighters were moved to the Wood Avenue fire station more than a mile away. It took seven minutes for them to respond to a fast-moving blaze at 2345 Fairfield Ave., where a husband, wife and their 1-year-old son died of smoke inhalation.

Fire officials, however, insisted that the longer response time to the Fairfield Avenue fire scene — just around the corner from the closed firehouse — likely was not a factor in the three deaths because the blaze was so fast-moving and intense.

But reacting to neighborhood concerns, at trailer on Jan. 3 was temporarily stationed on Ocean Terrace to house Engine 7 firefighters until the repairs were completed.

Lt. Nick Esposito of Engine 7, who lived in the trailer briefly, praised the repair work to the firehouse.

"The tradesmen from the city, they did a good job: the painter, the electrician, the plumber," he said.

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