Fire Station Working Group ranks firefighter health top priority in programming exercise

WESTON — May 13, 2024 — Weston Fire Station Working Group puts firefighter health first, pumps brakes on fall Town Meeting timeline. At the May 13 meeting, members ranked health and safety, qualified staffing and response time as the top three drivers in an interactive Menti polling exercise led by project architects Jeff and Rebecca, with Vertex serving as owner's project manager. The lead architect told members that construction-cost escalation runs 3 to 4 percent annually on the trend line, roughly doubling cost per square foot over the 17- to 18-year life of a typical bond. Member Carl resisted the schedule pressure to bring a financing article in the fall, warning that the town is simultaneously preparing a major water-tank project and a future high school ask: "We could be in deep trouble going to Town Meeting in a rushed manner, especially with something with a price tag this big." The fire chief said the department's two stations — including Station 2, built in 1966 — divide the town into north and south response districts, and that site selection is a community decision, not a department call. The group will tour the Lexington Fire Station, completed in 2020 at 26,000 square feet, before its next meeting on June 3.