[caption id="attachment_15819" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Chestnut Hill's historic Engine 37 at W. Highland Avenue and Shawnee Street does not have doors …
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[caption id="attachment_15819" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Chestnut Hill's historic Engine 37 at W. Highland Avenue and Shawnee Street does not have doors wide enough to accommodate modern firetrucks. "][/caption]
by Wesley Ratko
Modern fire trucks are wider than their century-old forebears. But as the size of the trucks has increased, the fire station doors have not. Because of this ever widening problem, the historic station house for Engine 37 at 101 West Highland Ave. may no longer be able to serve its intended purpose.
Joyce Lenhardt, vice-president of the Chestnut hill Community Association's Physical Division, told the CHCA board Thursday night that the Philadelphia Fire Department contacted the CHCA to discuss how to work with the community association and the Chestnut Hill Historical Society to formulate a solution to this problem.
Lenhardt said that she and LUPZ co-chair Larry McEwen met with representatives of the Philadelphia Fire Department to gather information and better understand the issue.
“They’re proactively trying to come up with a solution to this problem,” Lenhardt said.
She added that while it is not an immediate problem, it may at some point reach a crisis situation.
The 1991 truck now operating out of Engine 37 leaves five inches of clearance on either side; they are about to replace it with a 1995 truck that will leave 2.5 inches on either side.
Lenhardt and McEwen discussed five options with the fire department and the Historical Society, including modifying the station to widen the doors, building a bigger garage next door, purchasing custom trucks that do fit in the existing station, eliminating the Chestnut Hill station altogether and constructing a modern fire station and repurpose the existing historic structure. The fire department wanted comments and input from the local community before proceeding.
The Historical Society is opposed to any modification of the station building as it is considered historically significant.
At Tuesday night’s Development Review Committee meeting, Larry McEwen took a straw poll and determined that the best course of action would be for the CHCA and the Historical Society, in conjunction with the fire department, to co-author a letter to city council member Cindy Bass stating a desire to protect the existing structure while maintaining the service provided by the fire department.
Lenhardt proposed a motion seeking board approval to do just that. It passed unanimously.
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