6 Years In The Making, Mount Tabor Has a Brand New Firehouse

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Much has changed around Parsippany since the Mount Tabor Volunteer Fire Department began in 1910 — a year that predates the township's incorporation.

The agency covers about 9 square miles in Parsippany. With the area far more developed than it used to be and the technology changing, they knew it was time for a new firehouse. They finally moved into the new firehouse May 5, but the process to build it created an eventful few years.

The board of fire commissioners, which governs the department, first met about building a new firehouse in April 2015, according to Chief Bryan Crawford. As they moved through the official process to try and make it happen, a family that lived behind the former firehouse looked to move.

"We had to do everything by the law, everything by the book," Crawford told Patch. "A developer purchased the land. They then donated it to the fire department."

The Mount Tabor Fire Department and surrounding agencies also got to use the house for about a year. The ability to break windows and doors gave them great training opportunities.

But once they knocked down the old firehouse, that's when they hit crunch time. Mount Tabor has two other stations, of which they took advantage. However, they needed another building so they could stay close to each part of their coverage area.

"We respond to every call together," Crawford said. "We’re one company. We operate as one department. So a truck will leave from here no matter where the call comes from, but response times are important."

So the agency used a vacant commercial property on Route 202, where they were allowed to put two trucks in the parking lot. They used the temporary station for about 1.5 years.

"It was a little bit of a unique scenario," Crawford said. "There were no automatic doors. There was a key. You had to lift up the bay doors. There was no automatic anything. We had to put portable heaters in there in the winter, so the trucks didn’t freeze."

The new firehouse, which received final approval in 2019, faced some COVID-related delays. But fortunately for the department, construction moved along because it was considered an essential project.

And they adjusted, before finally settling into the new firehouse May 5 at 909 Tabor Rd. See photos above.

Here are some of the perks:

• The new building is about 12,000 square feet — nearly double the previous one's size.
• The older facility had three bays — large garages for apparatuses — in one direction. The new building has four for firetrucks — two off the front and two off the back, so trucks can leave in different directions. Since trucks are getting bigger, the garages are also wider.
• The building now has a gym, allowing firefighters to immediately respond to emergencies during workouts.
• The first and second floors include offices, extra storage space and personalized lockers.
• The firehouse has a room that essentially serves as a base for responding to emergencies, where officials can track weather and traffic and stay in communication with all their trucks.
• The hall's capacity essentially doubled from 60 people to 113, granting more flexibility for meetings, trainings and events.

One of the most important new features? The firehouse has a special garage just for ambulances. Par-Troy EMS responds to thousands of calls per year, so the ambulance bay gives them a place to settle inside and protect vehicles from wear and tear.

"To have an office, to have a home, to have a bathroom — imagine being in a job where you’re in an ambulance for 12 hours and you can’t use a bathroom," Crawford said. "These guys have a home now."

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