Volume 38, Issue

At the end of October, the community was invited to join city officials as they broke ground on a new headquarters for the Summit Fire Department at 301 Broad St.

The 32,000-square-foot building is expected to take about 18 months to complete, and plans include eight equipment bays, training classrooms and streetscape simulation areas, decontamination zones, an emergency operations center and a history room.

“The breaking of ground for a new fire headquarters is a significant moment in the history of the Summit Fire Department,” said Summit Mayor Nora Radest. “The firefighters are not just physically moving to a new location a few blocks away on Broad Street -- the Summit Fire Department is moving forward.”

Research for the project began in 2012, city officials noted, and a final concept was approved in 2019 by Common Council. It was designed by architects LeMay, Erickson and Wilcox, and will be built by Brahma Construction.

“We went through an extremely in-depth value-engineering process during concept development to ensure taxpayers’ dollars were spent wisely and designs stayed within budget,” said Fire Chief Eric Evers. “Our headquarters will be constructed with many features that are essential in a modern-day fire station. Today, fires burn hotter and

Breaking ground for the new Summit Fire Department headquarters were, from left, City Administrator Michael Rogers, the Reverend Dr. Denison Harrield from Wallace Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, Councilmember Greg Vartan, Councilmember Susan Hairston, Mayor Nora Radest, Deputy Fire Chief Paul Imbimbo, Fire Chief Eric Evers, Fire Lt. Brian Harnois, contractor Rob Russo, architect Christopher Kehde, and retired chiefs Christopher Cotter and Joseph Houck. faster and are more dangerous than ever. Having the ability to train onsite will give our firefighters the flexibility to pursue training activities geared towards successfully handling and surviving those challenges.”

For details on the Summit Fire Department, visit cityofsummit.org.