LIVERMORE FALLS — The main room in the newly renovated Fire Station will provide space for training for the Fire and Police Departments, Fire Chief Edward Hastings IV said.

Tables and chairs set up in diagonal fashion face a large-screen television. A grant from the Walmart Foundation paid for the TV and a significant number of the chairs, he said.

Hastings extended an invitation to the Police Department to use the space for training. 

The chief said he will look at energy options, such as a heat pump, to address ventilation in the main room. The room is insulated, sheetrocked and has steel fire-rated doors.

Selectmen had to eliminate some items from the original renovation plans because of the expense, Hastings said.

A community work station area for officers and firefighters is at one end of the main room. There is also a dispatch area and an old radio system that needs to be be replaced, he said.

A small room that housed an old boiler has plenty of room, with the heating system and hot water system mounted on the wall of the room. There are also offices for the chief and deputy chief and the building has a security system.

There is LED lighting that operates on a dimmer switch in the main room. There are two electronic notification boards, one in the main room and the other in on the bay wall to let firefighters know who is responding to a scene and with what vehicle.

The kitchen at the station has a new refrigerator and a stove that has a fire suppression system required by law, Hastings said. The department had received $1,300 for fire suppression reimbursement that paid for the majority of the appliance cost, which was about $1,600.

Among the other renovations are a new roof, a new bay and door, and a reinforced outer wall facing the railroad tracks. Hastings said the plan is to work with the Public Works Department to build a retaining wall with a guardrail on town property that abuts the railroad tracks. 

He will be talking to selectmen about firetrucks and a plan to replace them. One truck has an internal pipe system that is rotting from the inside out, he said. Water was leaking from the truck onto the bay floor.

The station renovations were completed in April at a cost of about $720,000. They began after several structural deficiencies were discovered in 2014.  

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

Livermore Falls Fire Chief Edward Hastings IV has the main room at the newly renovated fire station set up as a training area. (Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal)

New heating and hot water systems are attached to the walls of a small room in the newly renovated Livermore Falls Fire Station. (Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal)

Livermore Falls Fire Chief Edward Hastings IV stands in front of a new bay at the renovated Fire Station. (Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal)

Livermore Falls Fire Department Lt. Nixon Ortiz shows off a community work space for officers and firefighters to use at the newly renovated Livermore Falls Fire Station. (Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal)