Aberdeen Fire Department?s House 3 on Churchville Road can barely accommodate one fire engine, so the leaders of the volunteer fire and EMS provider look to break ground on an expansion project to almost triple the substation?s size.
“It?s probably one of the oldest firehouses in Harford County,” Fire Chief Steve Hinch said.
Built in 1953, House 3 is about 900 square feet in size and can only house one fire engine in the two-bay structure, according to department Treasurer Richard Kosko.
“It is no longer large enough to handle the larger equipment we are looking to get,” Kosko said.
AFD volunteers arehoping to build a 4,000- to 6,000-square-foot firehouse, he said, depending on how the site plan fares after going through the city?s planning commission. They hope to break ground by spring and move in this summer.
Regardless of the square footage, Kosko said the new substation will have two drive-through engine bays, a parking lot big enough for a fire engine to turn around in, and all of the facilities a full-time staff would require to man the station 24 hours a day ? a kitchen, beds, bathrooms and a meeting room.
Kosko said the new substation, to be built to the immediate left of the present structure on an acre of land owned by the department, is estimated to cost between $750,000 and $1.5 million. The existing station will be torn down for a parking lot.
About $500,000 of the construction costs were obtained from a county grant, while the department has been saving funds raised over the past four years to cover additional costs, Kosko said. Final designs will dictate the ultimate cost of the project. Hinch said that, given the size of the proposed House 3, the city will have to consent to the new structure encroaching into property buffers.
Peggy Dare, one of House 3?s neighbors, does not seem to mind.
“I imagine [even with a larger building] the siren won?t get any louder, so I don?t have any problem with it,” said Dare, who has lived behind the station for 30 years.
