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Date: 8/30/2022
HATFIELD – Fire Capt. Luke Longstreet presented plans to about twenty residents last Thursday evening for a house-like facility for training in structure fires. In a second phase, a structure similar to a shipping container would be added, that would enable training in extreme heat conditions.
Most residents in attendance were abutters to the South Hatfield well field, one of three siting options for the facility. Tainting of the well field was a primary concern, which Longstreet discounted.
“Hatfield Fire Department does not use foam containing PFAS for training and firefighting,” Longstreet said. “We only use water from hydrants, which is the drinking water you get.”
Longstreet said that between 150 and 250 gallons of water are used for an exercise. In the new facility, trainings would involve a burn barrel, about half the size of a 55-gallon drum, Masonite and hardboard, a material manufactured with compressed sawdust. Any runoff from an exercise would be water and charcoal.
The well field is the most suitable site among three identified by Fire Department personnel. Elm Court and Billings Way were also considered, but each presented significant difficulties. Elm Court is on a floodplain. The necessary water line currently reaches only half way to where the facility would be located. Extending the line would increase the costs of the facility, which also should not be located on land that may periodically be flooded.
Billings Way is also on a floodplain.
Abutters questioned why the area near the sewage treatment plant, well away from residential areas, was not considered. Longstreet countered that it too is on a floodplain, a low point in town geography. The fire captain sought to allay fears of disturbances in the neighborhood around the well field site and that the facility would be an eyesore.
“The one thing I can guarantee is, this will be one of your best neighbors. Ninety-five percent of the time it’ll be empty,” Longstreet said. “We have no intention to put in big light towers and loudspeakers.”
Little time was spent on the costs and financial arrangement that will enable the facility to be built for a reasonable price. Fire Department personnel sought land that was already owned by the town, considerably reducing the expense. At the well field location a rectangle of about 1.25 acres, adjacent to but not impinging on the well recharge area, would be transferred from the town to the Hatfield Firefighters Association, a 501(c)3 nonprofit. The nonprofit will pay a dollar for the plot.
Department personnel will build the house-like structure, in the style of a classic New England salt box, without the usual home plumbing and heating equipment. The nonprofit would then transfer the property back to the town. Transferring ownership back and forth will avoid the additional major costs of paying prevailing wage among unionized labor. Longstreet estimated that the structure will still require as much as $250,000 in fundraising by the department.
“Prevailing wage on top of that, it would be astronomical,” Longstreet said. “Whatever we buy, we donate it back to the town … The benefit, in return, is you’ll have a well-trained fire department.”
Longstreet emphasized the department is open to consideration of other sites. A suitable piece of land may be donated by a resident. The fire captain also suggested the timeline for completion is dependent on cash donations that will pay for materials.
“It depends on how well we do fundraising, and how well the community comes together to help us do this,” Longstreet said. “Carpenters, plumbers, electricians, everything we need to get this done, we have in our department.”
The projected timeline for completing phase 1, the house-like structure with a deck and access road, will take some years to complete. Longstreet estimated that phase 2, the enclosed structure for extreme heat training, will probably not to be managed for another five years.
Longstreet also clarified that buffers will mitigate any visual impact on abutters and that noise from trainings will be limited to Thursday nights, the regularly scheduled weekly firefighter trainings, and the occasional Saturday morning. An attractive planting of trees, bushes and ground cover will stand between the facility and any neighboring houses. A fence with a masonry, complete with a brick column every 64 feet, will also soften any disturbances in the neighborhood.
Longstreet began by offering the opinion of other fire departments, that Hatfield’s group stages effective training for firefighters. The captain of the department suggested the facility would enable the town’s firefighters to be even better prepare for the big blazes.
“There’s some firefighters who haven’t been to a structure fire in five or six years,” Longstreet said. “It’s a key thing in training any firefighter.”