Ground Broken On $8M Firehouse

Dix Hills FD officials, from left, Third Assistant Chief Brett Tepe and Fire Commissioners Todd Cohen, Phil Tepe, Board Chairman Larry Feld, Bob Commisso and Mike Plumitallo are pictured at Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony. Photo/Steve Silverman

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

 The Dix Hills Fire District held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday morning to mark the start of its $8 million construction and renovation project at its headquarters.

The project at 115 East Deer Park Road includes construction of a new substation for Dix Hills FD Company 2 in the north parking lot, said Larry Feld, chairman of the Dix Hills Board of Fire Commissioners.

“The Company 2 building will be a Morton style building, about 10,000 square feet,” Feld said Wednesday morning. “We have been studying this for approximately the last eight years.”

Hauppauge-based firm Bartlett, Amoruso & Recce Architects P.C. are the architects working on the project.

Feld said the pre-engineered building will serve as a four bay firehouse with a kitchen, training space and a bund room for department members that is designed to increase response times.

The $8 million project is being funded by a 25-year $6.5 million bond, which voters approved last year, and $1.5 million from capital reserve funds.

The current headquarters building, originally constructed in 1958, will undergo renovations to district offices, expansion to its workspace for district mechanics, extensive masonry work and HVAC system improvements.

“We are busting out of the headquarters building; our mechanics need a bigger bay because our trucks are getting bigger. We can’t service our ladder truck in the current space,” Feld said.

Feld said construction will begin this week, and the district is aiming for an 11-month timeline.

He cited increase in demand, including the number of alarms answered, as the reasoning behind the project.

“Our call volume just keeps going up, and we just keep getting busier and busier. We are building for the future,” Feld said, adding that the district covers nearly 25 square miles and services roughly 29,000 residents.

“This will benefit our members and the community as far as safety is concerned,” Feld said. “It was a compromise with the community where we can keep costs lower, no tax increase, and we can get much needed space out of it. It’s a win-win for everyone.”