Old Ocean City Fire Station Closes by April 15 to Make Room for new Replacement

OCNJ Daily

By Donald Wittkowski Ocean City will close the fire station at 29th Street next week and demolish it by Memorial Day weekend as plans unfold to replace the storm-damaged building that dates to the 1950s. The station was condemned by the city engineer and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration following an inspection this week, city spokesman Doug Bergen said Thursday. Originally built in 1954, the station was badly damaged by flood waters from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. It was swamped again by tidal flooding in January during the powerful coastal storm Jonas. After the building is closed by April 15, firefighters will shift their operations and equipment to a temporary headquarters in the same part of town. Exactly where they will relocate to is not yet clear. Bergen said the city is analyzing potential sites and will make a decision later. There will be no interruption of services or fire protection after the old station is demolished, Bergen stressed. People should continue to call 911 for fire emergencies and 609-525-9182 for non-emergency services during the station's transition to a temporary home. Demolition of the old station and construction of a new one will cost an estimated $1.5 million. A combination of federal, city and insurance funds will pay for the project. The city is in negotiations with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its contribution to the project. FEMA stepped in when the old station was damaged by Sandy and has offered about $450,000, but the city is seeking more from the agency, Bergen said. Bergen indicated construction on the new station will begin after Labor Day and may be completed by late this year. Construction contracts would first have to be awarded by the city. Firefighters have been grumbling for years about the deteriorated condition of the old station at 29th Street and West Avenue. Their union president renewed those complaints Thursday after the city announced in a press release that the building will close down. John Murphy, head of Local 4032 of the International Association of Firefighters, said inspectors condemned the building after finding large cracks in the walls that jeopardized its structural integrity. "There's cracks, everything. There's been cracks in the walls for 20 years," said Murphy, whose union represents the city's 58 full-time firefighters. Murphy explained that the safety inspection was conducted after the union filed a complaint with the New Jersey Department of Labor. "We had concerns with that old building for at least 10 years," he said. Living quarters at the station were ruined by Sandy's flooding, forcing firefighters to move into a temporary trailer nearby. Firefighters have repeatedly complained that the trailer has been infested with mold and rodents. Fire equipment and apparatus remained in the old station, even though the firefighters shifted their living quarters into a temporary trailer. Bergen said the firefighters are expected to move into a new trailer after the old station is shut down. The new trailer will be located near the temporary fire headquarters once a site is selected. Murphy contended that the city has moved too slowly to build a new station. He said the city is finally "being forced to do this" because the old building has been condemned. "We take it as disrespecting and insulting," Murphy said. Bergen, who also serves as spokesman for Mayor Jay Gillian, said the city government has always been concerned about the firefighters' safety and is committed to building the new station as quickly as possible. "That's absolutely far from the truth," Bergen said in response to Murphy's allegations. "The city has been working as fast as possible to get this done." Bergen also said that plans were already in the works to close the old station in the spring. The city has been discussing plans to replace or renovate the fire house since 2013 or 2014, but the project was delayed when an earlier set of construction bids came in exorbitantly high and were rejected, according to Bergen.