By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

SEBAGO — The day that shovels dug into the dirt and then heavy machinery started doing the excavation for the future Sebago Fire Garage marked 30 years of trying to obtain a new space for the department to keep on doing its job.

The groundbreaking represents the citizen’s support, which was expressed through the approval of a $1.3 million bond to build the much-needed apparatus station.

“Thank you to the citizens of Sebago for the long overdue process of approving a new fire station, for Great Falls Construction for sticking with us through this long process,” Sebago Fire Chief Philip Strike said to a crowd of about 50 people during the groundbreaking ceremony.

“We definitely have had our ups and downs, but we’re finally here. Again, this has been an extremely long path. It has been in the process for 30-plus years. I’ve been on the department for 20 years and counting; and I’ve have been involved in a new station committee for the past 18 years,” he said.

“The new station will replace the current station that was built in the 1950s. Unfortunately, the current station can no longer serve our needs,” he said.

There is a sadness about retiring the old station, he said.

“It is bittersweet because there are a lot of stories back there from over the years. When you are talking about a building that served the town for 70 years, there are a lot of stories in those walls,” he said.

Certainly, the attachment to history will be overcome with the joy at finally having the new station come to fruition.

“This station will help serve the citizens of the town for years to come,” Chief Strike said.

The groundbreaking took place last week, on Thursday morning at the site on Pit Road. Residents were invited and joined the fire department personnel, town staff, the Sebago Select Board members and the contractor Great Falls Construction, Inc.

According to Chief Strike, the future apparatus bay will hold: Engine 4, Tank 2, the rescue vehicle, and the utility trailer.

“It will have a modern-day decontamination room. If we come back from a structure fire. We can do additional rinsing in modern-day decon system. Rescue can bring in stretcher and do the decon in the shower. They will be able to roll stretcher right in,” he said.

The good news that was conveyed by Great Falls Construction during the ceremony: the fire station could be completed by late August.

“It’s about a six month build,” Strike said. “It’s a metal building. The building is actually sitting out behind our current rescue station. It came in November on two flat beds. It is a metal building. It is not stickbuilt. Once the footings and the frost walls are in, it should be pretty quick. It’s like a big Erector ™set. You put A to A, B to B, C to C. It is just connect the dots, bolt the thing together and start standing up the steel structure.”

John Owen, with Great Falls Construction, spoke during the ceremony. He thanked everybody involved including the staff at the Town of Sebago. They’ve had some time to become acquainted.

“We’ve been involved in the project for quite a while. We looked at one station six or seven years ago. We have been involved in this one for two years. We appreciate what seems like a simple station to build. Anyone who has been involved in it realizes that nothing is simple these days. These are all different factors to take into account,” Owen said.

“I hear the temperature is rising up again next week. It’ll be a good time to pour concrete and get this project kicked off,” he said. “We are excited to get started.”

Chief Striker provided the details of the project over the past couple years.

“The bid was approved back in January or February 2022. After we put out RFP’s, Great Falls was awarded the bid, contingent on passing of the bond at town meeting. That happened in May 2022,” he said.

“We sat down with Great Falls in August or September 2022. The had our original drawing we had done a number of years ago. That started the process of them designing the building, and the project getting approval from Fire Marshall,” he said.

“It took a lot longer to get approval from the Fire Marshall. Initially, the building was going to be attached but due to changes in codes, we had to separate the building. We will have to address that later on down the road when we attach the building because the codes have changed since the project was approved,” Strike said. “The back-and-forth process between designers took some time. More time than we thought. We got final approval from the Fire Marshall in December 2023. Finally, we had permit in hand from fire Marshall.”

“We’ve attempted three times before this for a fire building. It got shot down all those times,” he said. “Then, we finally got approval almost two years ago for this building.”

Chief Strike said the department is thankful for residents’ backing — a sentiment echoed by his deputy chief’s comment during the ceremony.  “This station is for you the taxpayers, and the citizens who have supported us. It is not for us, but it allows us to provide a better service,” Deputy Fire Chief Alan Greene said