Fire/Rescue News - New fire station almost ready in Cape May Court House

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It has been more than three years in the making.

Voters approved a $1.8 million bond in March 2006 to purchase the land off Hand Avenue, about a block from the existing Boyd Street firehouse. In December 2006, a public question approved a $4.9 million bond to build the station.

The township's Fire District No. 1 includes areas of Cape May Court House, Swainton, Mayville, Burleigh, Dias Creek, Avalon Manor and Stone Harbor Manor.

The new fire station sits on the site of a former Avalon Carpet, Tile and Flooring Center building.

Officials kept the original building's metal beams as the skeleton for the new station, said Keith Arenberg, fire district commissioner.

The fire station includes three bays, as well locker rooms, a weight room, a kitchen, a handicapped elevator and a room for filling the air on firefighter's air packs, Arenberg said. The station is connected to offices for the Bureau of Fire Prevention.

Fire officials pitched the plan for a larger station by saying their existing firehouse was too small, particularly as equipment and trucks have become larger over the years.

"It'll be here for 100 years," Arenberg said. "They outgrew the other place. It just wasn't efficient anymore."

The local fire district has about 50 volunteer firefighters, Arenberg said.

The station has a small room on the second floor dedicated for bunks. Arenberg said it can be used as a temporary shelter.

Arenberg said that when the property was up for sale years ago, it presented a unique opportunity - a large chunk of available land in downtown Cape May Court House located between Hand Avenue and Mechanic Street.

To accommodate access to the station, the district purchased an adjacent 1865 house at 117 Mechanic St., which it unsuccessfully tried to sell for $1 for someone to remove it. It was subsequently torn down.

The Middle Township Committee expects to buy the old Boyd Street fire station, which was built in the 1920s and sits alongside Township Hall, for $1.2 million.

E-mail Brian Ianieri: BIanieri@pressofac.com

If you go

Middle Township's Fire District No. 1 will dedicate its new fire station Saturday afternoon. The fire department will conduct a parade starting at noon from its substation in Swainton, heading down Route 9 and Hand Avenue to the new firehouse. A formal dedication will follow the parade.