by Kim Kilpatrick
October 22, 2009 3:05 PM
Trustees of Liberty Township (OH) decided Tuesday (October 20) to use the town’s original fire station as a temporary storage facility for both the Liberty Township Historical Society and Liberty Township Fire Association.
According to October 21’s cincinnati.com posting, there were 5 different options on the table, including simply selling the land on which the fire station sits, and using the structure as a police substation. However, each of those options would have required improvements to the current septic system, some roof work, and the upgrading utilities.
Trustee Christine Matacic said, “This is something temporary; we have equipment that needs to be protected to extend its life and if we use this (1953 fire station), all we’ll have to do is keep water and minimal heat until we can find a permanent solution.”
The new fire station, which sits on a 1.5-acre parcel at 5867 Princeton-Glendale Road, is necessary because the original one is no longer large enough to house newer equipment and lacks adequate facilities for firefighters who now staff the station 24/7. At 11,417-square feet, the single-story, masonry and brick building is triple the size of the original fire house, and should be complete by December 28 (weather permitting.)
Township Administrator Dina Minneci said the move from the old station to the new should be complete in early January. “Our service garage is busting at the seams,’’ Minneci said. “We’ve got things stored outside that should be indoors. The elements are starting to deteriorate them.”
Among the items that will be moved into the original fire station are the Butler County Emergency Management Agency’s trailer and the township’s 1953 fire pumper, which Fire Chief Paul Stumpf claims was the first new piece of equipment purchased when the township started a volunteer fire department in 1953.
Located in the southeastern part of Trumbull County, Liberty Township was established in 1806 from the Connecticut Western Reserve. Four villages grew within its borders: Girard, Churchill, Sodom, and Seceders Corners. In 1860, coal was discovered on Alexander McCleery's farm becoming a major industry in the area for the next 40 years.