New home for Lyon Mountain firefighters

By Zachery Lashway
The building the Lyon Mountain Fire Department has called home for decades will soon be vacant.
The District is responsible for approximately 2000 people and almost 500 homes that reside in Lyon Mountain, Standish, Chazy Lake, the upper Chateaugay Lake and Merrill will be getting a new home.
There are 30 volunteers on the roster at the fire department. There is one paramedic, three tech 600s, one tech 500 and four basic EMTs that make up the Lyon Mountain Fire Department.
The Chief of the Lyon Mountain Fire District, Billy Durnin says, “Things just don’t fit anymore. The equipment is now bigger than ever, you need the space and space is our biggest issue.”
“The wiring in the old building is antiquated, the electric system is disheveled, it burns between 50 to 70 gallons of fuel oil a day during the winter and the overhead doors are too small. It is cheaper to replace it, not repair it,” says, the Lyon Mountain Fire District Chairperson of Commissioners, Bob Weeks.
The new building is a $975 thousand category four steel building that is being built adjacent to the existing building. A category four steel structure is capable of housing people during a natural disaster. A garage made of steel would be a category one or two steel structure. This shows how immense and sturdy the new building is.
“The design of the new building is a box within a box design,” says Weeks.
According to Weeks the new building is much bigger than the old building, more practical and much more efficient.
“The new building has triple-pane windows in the overhead doors, closed cell foam insulation that is made from soybean and recycled soda bottles, a modern alarm system, a phone system with wireless capabilities, a 99 percent propane in-floor efficiency heating system, a self start generator and a dry sprinkler system. Everything is efficient. The new building will cost less to insure than the old building, 30 percent less,” says Weeks.
Durnin says the new building will have offices, privacy, place to shower in case of exposure and a weight room. The present building has one office, hardly any storage space, no shower or a weight room.
The community will benefit from the new building in various ways says Durnin and Weeks.
“Too many to count,” says, Weeks. “The overall cost for the building overtime will be much less than our existing one. It could be a command center in case of a natural disaster, it can sit up to 120 people at a given function and it is built to accommodate new equipment for the next 50 years.”
In addition to all the perks the new building has to offer, Weeks says, it is big enough to accommodate future growth while remaining fuel efficient and it has been built in half the cost of other fire department buildings in the area.
“If it doesn’t work in 50 years, why build it,” says Weeks.
The new building sounds like it is a much needed investment, however, not everyone within the Lyon Mountain Fire District agrees.
According to Weeks in September 2007 the motion to move forward with the project was voted on and passed unanimously five to nothing. In December 2007 people took to the polls, 184 people voted in favor of the new fire house while 102 individuals voted against the new building.
There are some people within the district think a new building was needed but the district went overboard in their budget. Other individuals thought the district should have just repaired the old building. Majority of all the people opposed to the new building think their taxes are going to sky rocket in the future. Individuals were willing to explain why they were against the new building, however, none were willing to give their name.
“People are against it because they lack information, they have been misinformed. But the lack of education is the biggest thing that hurts us,” says Weeks.
Durnin says people are against it because they do not believe it is justified.
“Some people are just negative. They are opposed to be opposed. Some are against it because they don’t know anything about the fire department. They are stagnant, negative, anti no matter what the situation is,” says Durnin. “Actually the cost of the new fire station will only cost the tax payer 40 cents on a $1000.”
On the flip side of things some people within the district are in favor for the new building.
Retired Chief of the Lyon Mountain Fire Department, Frank Woodward is in favor of the new building.
“I am for it. I assume the people in charge knew what they were doing. I think the people that are opposed to it are afraid of their taxes going up. But I do think building a new fire house will save the tax payers in the long run,” says Woodward.
Guy and Lana Facteau are retired, lifelong residents of Lyon Mountain. Both are also in favor of the new fire department building.
“I am for it because it is necessary. This community in particular is made up of 90 percent senior citizens. It’s imperative for them to have an effective service,” says Lana. “Some people don’t like change and that’s their problem, the building could have been fully paid for and they still wouldn’t have wanted it.”
Guy says he looks forward to having a new fire house.
“It’s going to be beneficial to the community in a lot of ways. It is going to be a great place to gather for community events, and town meetings.”
Both Weeks and Durnin says once the new building is completed and everything is moved from the old building into the new building there will be a public auction on anything that is worth money from the old building. The money generated from the auction will be used to tear the old building down.
“The demolition will be self supporting,” says Durnin.
According to Weeks the new building is expected to be completed in mid February.
“Communities evolve around schools, legions and fire departments so hopefully in the future the new Lyon Mountain Fire District building will generate community comrade and spirit,” says Durnin.