Preparations are underway for construction of a new Dorchester Fire Station on Cape Road near the centre of the village, after Tantramar council approved a $5.6 million contract with RICE Contracting in early June.
The project will cost considerably more than the estimated budget of $4.3 million, something council had been warned of as the request for proposals was sent out this past spring.
At their meeting on June 10, councillors had the option to downsize, alter or even postpone the project in light of the unbudgeted $1.3 million, but decided to move ahead with the project unchanged. Treasurer Michael Beal told councillors the additional $1.3 million could be covered by the municipality’s healthy capital reserves (with “a little over $4 million” in unallocated funds). He also said the extra cost could be partially covered by budget surpluses in 2025 and 2026.
The new fire hall will be built at the site of the former Dorchester Rite Stop convenience store at 3508 Cape Road. The village of Dorchester bought the property in 2021 in preparation for the opportunity to build a new fire hall.
Dorchester Fire Chief Greg Partridge told CHMA the project has been a long time in the making, and will make a big difference for the volunteer fire department.
“It’s going to improve morale,” says Partridge. “It’s going to improve the flow of things. We’re really looking forward to our new hall.”
The new fire hall will give the department about twice as much space as they currently have for trucks and firefighter facilities, says Partridge. The new design shows three bays each holding two trucks, with room to expand into a fourth bay. “Eventually we’ll have a larger rescue [vehicle] and hopefully a small ladder truck,” says Partridge, “because with the new construction these days, you don’t want to be on a roof.” Partridge says that because of low grade construction standards, it’s becoming the norm to respond to even bungalow fires with ladder trucks, and so he sees one in the Dorchester department’s future.
There’s already a new pumper truck on order for Dorchester, approved by council last summer for a cost of about $920,000. Delivery of the new truck is being timed to coincide with the opening of the new station, because the truck will actually be too big to fit into the current fire hall.
The new station will also feature other improvements, says Partridge, including a larger training area, a hydrant on site, a large gym area, a bigger kitchen facility and a back-up generator. The new building will also have offices, as well as one allocated for municipal use.
Current fire hall built circa 1947
Partridge celebrated 50 years with the Dorchester Fire Department last year, and recalls plenty of changes over those decades. He believes the current fire hall was built around 1947, around the time the department acquired its first new vehicle. Before that, vehicles were stored around the village. Partridge’s grandfather was one of the founders of the department, he says. “Down on his property was a single car garage,” recalls Partridge. “They had a Model A or Model T Ford, with a pump in the trunk. And that was their first fire truck.”
Once the station was built in the last 40’s, the department used a water tower inside to fill up trucks with a gravity feed.
“There was no hydrants, no water and sewer,” recalls Partridge. The 20,000 gallon tank was filled from a well under the station, with the pump kicking on and off as needed, like a toilet tank.
Partridge recalls training on a 1947 Chevy truck owned by the department, and also that maintenance standards were not what they are today.
“Sometimes we would have to push [the trucks] out the door and down the hill to start them,” recalls Partridge with a smile. “There was no money for maintenance back then, so if the battery was dead, we all just got together behind the fire truck and pushed it out the door and down the hill and popped the clutch and away we went.”
Councillor to have ‘front row view’
Tantramar councillor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell says that with a federal penitentiary and a First Nation both in the service area of the fire department, she’s not surprised the new fire hall project is finally a go, despite the extra $1.3 million in costs.
“I was a little nervous,” said Wiggins-Colwell after a council meeting on June 23, because of the warnings over increased costs due to the ongoing trade war with the United States. “I was pretty sure it was going to go through, because we have the two federal entities within our community, so we protect both of them,” says Wiggins-Colwell.
Wiggins-Colwell is excited about the new build, which she will be able to watch closely, as the new fire station is being built across the street from her Dorchester home. “I’ll have a front row view,” says Wiggins-Colwell.
Chief Partridge says he expects the new hall will be a hub of activity for the village. “It’s going to be a huge positive boost for the village,” says Partridge, noting that there will be space for a municipal office included, and that the existing fire hall will serve as a Dorchester storage facility for Tantramar’s public works department.
Site clearing work has begun at the former Dorchester Rite Stop property, and the project is expected to be completed sometime in 2026.
“It’s going to be a showcase building that is going to outlast me, for sure,” says Partridge. “And hopefully all the young guys and gals on my department.”
