Hampstead (NH) Fire Department provides fire suppression, rescue, EMS (emergency medical services), hazardous materials mitigation, and disaster and management functions in the town of Hampstead from one station. The department has a chief, seven full-time paid firefighters, a part-time fire inspector, and 25 on-call per-diem firefighters.
Hampstead is a suburban community of about 9,500 population, according to Will Warnock, Hampstead’s deputy chief, that the department protects with two Type 1 pumpers, one quint, a 3,000-gallon tanker, a brush truck, an ambulance, and a utility vehicle. “We needed to renovate the central core area of our fire station and add on administrative offices and more,” Warnock says.
Warnock notes that the central core area of the station, including the apparatus bays and adjacent areas, were renovated with the bays getting new floors and new paint throughout. “We now have a dedicated negative pressure turnout gear storage room, and a decon room with a washer, extractor and gear dryer adjacent to the apparatus bays,” he says. “That’s the warm zone, while the apparatus bays are the hot zone, and the living areas are the cold zone.”
He says that the contractor/designer that the department hired put on a 1,400-square-foot addition to the station, adding offices, an emergency operations center (EOC), EMS crew room, two EMS dorms, a training room, EMS supply room, a watch room, and an ADA restroom on the first floor. The second floor of the new addition has three private dorm rooms, two restrooms with toilets, showers, and sinks, and a kitchen-dining area.
“This station was originally built in 1985 for an all-volunteer fire and EMS department running 400 calls a year,” Warnock points out. “Now we’re up to 1,200 calls a year and have three firefighters on duty 24/7, along with two private EMS services.” Warnock says that the renovation and addition cost $1.7 million, but that a federal grant put $200,000 toward the project because of the inclusion of the EOC in the station. “We also got another grant to pay for the extractor/washer and dryer in the decon room,” he adds.
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist, the author of three novels and five nonfiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board. He served 22 years with the Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including in the position of chief.
