Officials Break Ground For West Natick Fire Station

NATICK, MA — The first physical steps to making the West Natick Fire Station a reality were taken on Tuesday as officials broke ground on the construction site. Senate President Karen Spilka was among the officials at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The fire station has been in the works since the town created a study committee in 2007, which found that the current station would not accommodate the growing fire, rescue and medical response demands resulting from recent and anticipated growth within the West Natick area.

Town Meeting approved a $15.5 million debt exclusion in October 2018 and residents approved the debt exclusion in the November town election. The construction contract was awarded to Castagna Construction Corp. of Newburyport and the cost came in $1.3 million under budget, at $12.3 million.

The current station will remain open during construction and the new West Natick Fire Station should be complete in a year.

Modern equipment cannont fit in the current station, Chief Michael Lentini told Patch back in October. "It was designed for an apparatus of the 1950s," Lentini said. "Everything [today] is much bigger. The engine barely fits, so size is a major issue."

The new station will be almost 17,000 square feet and include a fitness area as well as a training room and bunks.

Senator Spilka was present for the ground breaking ceremony and said in a tweet, "This has been a long time coming and a vital part of community safety."