The Lockport Township Fire Protection District officially re-opened its Station 1 on Friday after ten months of construction.
The station, 828 E. 9th St., had been shut down since May 2016 so it could be rebuilt, according to Chief David Skoryi.
The old building was originally constructed in 1959 for use by a volunteer department. Since then, the township has grown and a full-time team of firefighters and staff were put in place, he said. That growth forced officials to continually modify the building, he said.
“We had issues with the drainage system, we had issues with everything,” said Captain John Batusich, who will oversee the new station. “It was an old building.”
Deputy Chief Frank Blaskey said the new building has a substantially upgraded alerting system, as well as many other subtle differences that improve the quality of life for the people who have to spend a substantial amount of time there.
One difference is that there are individual bunk areas rather than one big open room, he said.
There is a high-efficiency furnace, and a heated concrete driveway.
Batusich recalled when he started as a firefighter, he would take the call with the telephone receiver to his ear and use paper maps to find the addresses.
Now, the dispatch center takes the call, which is routed to the monitors inside the station so firefighters can not only hear the call while they are putting on their gear, but also see it displayed on the monitors, he said. The address goes directly to the trucks’ and engines’ GPS systems.
“It’s all about getting a call quicker, about getting out of the building quicker to be able to serve our residents faster,” Batusich said.
During Friday’s brief ceremony, Skoryi said it is tradition for firefighters to manually push the engines and trucks back into the station on the first day. The tradition dates back to the days when horse-drawn carriages were the norm, and horses could not walk backward to push the carriages inside.
Because of the size of the new engines, the chief said they chose to honor a different tradition, which was to uncouple a hose in lieu of a ribbon cutting.
“We’re excited about being back in our home,” Batusich said.
Erin Gallagher is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
