By Anne Levin

A resolution to pay for a study of the Princeton Fire Department’s headquarters at 363 Witherspoon Street was approved by Princeton Council at its meeting on November 25. Baltimore-based architectural firm Manns Woodward Studios Inc. (MW), a specialist in firehouses, will receive up to $58,800 to come up with a conceptual design for renovating and possibly enlarging the building.

Among the items on the list are future space needs; environmental issues; HVAC and ADA-compliance issues; and accommodations for staff, vehicles, and memorabilia.

“A couple of things have happened since that firehouse was built in 1992,” said Mayor Mark Freda, after Councilman David Cohen noted that the list was extensive. “One thing is that the roof continues to leak, no matter what we’ve done to it. We’re hoping to find someone that can actually solve that problem.”

Freda noted that six full-time, paid firefighters have been hired in recent years, and they are in the building 24 hours a day. “It wasn’t designed for that,” he said. “Additionally, we recently took our fire inspectors and made them fire inspectors/firefighters, so they now spend all their time in that building. We hired a paid fire chief. We have a new, paid fire official. They are all in a firehouse that was never designed for them all to be there.”

All of the mechanical systems are at their end of life, Freda added. “The electrical system probably needs an update. We’re looking for someone to come in and research the entire building and figure out how we’re going to put all these uses into a building that was never designed for pretty much anything that we now want to do.”

Even though the fire department no longer has trucks at the smaller Chestnut Street firehouse, it still operates there to some degree. Two fire department staff members are based at Monument Hall.

Councilwoman Michelle Pirone Lambros, who is the town’s fire commissioner, said there is a lot of under-utilized space in the Witherspoon Street firehouse. “To retain and attract volunteers, you want to have a more comfortable place,” she said. “So it’s really important that we upgrade.”

Councilman Leighton Newlin questioned why the plan being created is only for the next five years. Freda said that point had been debated.

“The fire department is in a time of flux,” Freda said. “Volunteerism is low. We’re hoping to expand the number of volunteers. At this point, it’s really hard to know what shape or form the fire department will be in further than five years from now, as far as people are concerned. We just felt that trying to plan out more than five years would be taking a wild-ass guess, to be honest.”

Councilwoman Eve Niedergang, who is stepping down from Council at the end of the year, urged her colleagues to think about climate resilience when considering the future of the firehouse.

“If we’re consolidating everything in one spot, we can’t afford to have that one spot be flooded or cut off,” she said, referring to the idea of having all operations at the Witherspoon Street building. “I didn’t see anything specific [in the report] about climate resiliency, and I may have missed it, but I want to make sure it’s in the forefront of everybody’s mind. Because we could have a great firehouse with all the most appropriate equipment, and if [the department] can’t get where it needs to go, then [the purpose is defeated],” she said.

The concept plan is expected to be completed within six months, according to a communication from Municipal Engineer/Deputy Administrator Deanna Stockton to Council.