From condemned space to community hub

going to give us the ability to serve the community,” he says. “I foresee things like blood collection services using the facility. Obviously, it’ll be a facility for weddings and that sort of thing, but it’ll be much more than that.”

The department has used the second floor – which is accessible by elevator – as a training facility. Recently, 10 firefighters did a portion of a pump operators’ course here.

“It gives us more room to train more people more efficiently,” says Chief Deveau. “We’re better served by this facility.”

Meanwhile, a space on the main level of the fire hall has been turned into an informal gathering/lounge area for firefighters, with comfortable seating, a kitchenette, a dining table and a display of firefighting memorabilia. This was a project the chief undertook to have happen.

Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood says bringing the fire hall space from ‘condemned to community’ was important.

“I think we’re most excited about the community hub piece, and not just for weddings and events, but first aid and training for firefighters and all of those pieces,” she says. “It’s a beautiful space for everyone to take advantage of.”

She credits town engineer Marc Brophy and his staff for what’s transpired as well.

Brophy says while many improvements are visual, what the public doesn’t see is also extremely important.

“A lot of things had to be brought up to present code. There was a fire separation between this floor and the garage bay below; we had to put a spray on the underside of the deck to keep the fire rating from floor to floor,” he says. “There’s a lot of fire separations, door hardware, etc., that we had to do to occupy the space.”

He says the project was a success because it was important to the town, the fire department and the volunteers. Not only was it needed, he says, but it was wanted.

Although not the same as a brand-new fire hall, Brophy says there is much value in what has occurred.

“This was a cost-effective life extension of the building,” he says. “The building still has value and it still has life. We’ve extended it.”