Nearly five months after a fire tore through its firehouse and destroyed one of its trucks, the Menands Fire Department has received state grant money meant to help plug the gaps insurance hasn't covered. The department says it is still waiting on a final insurance determination and has no set timeline for when the building will be fully repaired.
According to NEWS10 ABC, the department received $99,200 through New York State's V-FIRE grant program, though the Village of Menands has described the award on its own website as a $90,000 V-FIRE grant. The village is working with the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services and with local officials to determine exactly how the money will support rebuilding efforts, and the department says it plans to use the funding to offset costs that insurance doesn't cover.
The fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. on May 24 inside Bay 1, in the cab of Squad 6, according to WNYT. It destroyed the truck, spread through the two-story station, and severely damaged two other major pieces of apparatus. The same building also houses the Menands Police Station and Village Hall, and the fire forced both the fire and police departments to operate out of temporary locations, the station's report notes.
Insurance Teams Still Disagree on the Building's Condition
Five months later, the path to a full rebuild remains murky. Village of Menands officials hired their own engineering team to assess the damaged building, while the insurance carrier has a separate team doing the same. Per the same account, Village Mayor Brian Marsh said the two engineering teams need to reconcile differences about the building's condition before repairs can move forward in earnest.
The damage itself is extensive: the structure has heat, structural and cosmetic damage, and may also have compromised wiring and HVAC systems, per the earlier reporting. Notably, the fire department had already applied for grant funding to fix its HVAC system before the fire struck earlier this year — a repair need the blaze only made more urgent.
Given the extent of the damage, the firehouse side of the building is expected to take more than a year to reconstruct, the outlet's report states. Fire Chief David Ognan has said the department has no established rebuilding timeframe and that his priority, in the meantime, is getting firefighters their apparatus back and restoring some sense of normalcy.
Borrowed Trucks and a New Normal
While the firehouse rebuild drags on, Menands has leaned on its neighbors. Fire coverage operations have been split between the Schuyler Heights firehouse and Shaker Road, both of which have lent trucks and equipment to the Menands fire company, according to the Daily Gazette. That outlet also reported that the estimated replacement value of the three fire trucks lost in the blaze was about $4 million, with another $1 million estimated for the equipment and contents inside them.
Menands has since received a new Squad 6 engine, which Chief Ognan said will serve as the village's primary piece of equipment and support mutual aid with neighboring departments, according to the Daily Dispatch. Ognan described the new engine's arrival as a return to normalcy after months of relying on borrowed equipment. Mayor Marsh has separately estimated that replacing a structure like the Menands fire station would cost somewhere between $250,000 and $350,000, per WNYT's reporting.
Cause Still Under Investigation
What sparked the fire in the first place remains unresolved. WNYT reports that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is examining a piece of equipment inside the truck that caught fire and exploded, but no final cause has been announced.
Chief Ognan has said the ordeal has, in some ways, pulled the department closer together — members became a tighter family, he said, and gained community members as family along the way. He's also said the state grant funding is helping morale and could aid recruitment and retention, and that he hopes the investment encourages more community volunteerism. The department offers roles ranging from interior firefighter to support person to community-event volunteer for residents looking to get involved.
A Statewide Push Amid Volunteer Shortages
Menands isn't the only department benefiting from this round of state funding. New York funded more than 60 departments throughout the state, from Suffolk County to Erie County and the North Country, as part of a broader V-FIRE push. Terry O'Leary, commissioner of the New York State Division of Homeland Security, has said high morale among volunteers matters, and that improved equipment, trucks and buildings can help build it. The state has said it plans to provide another $25 million for fire departments in another grant round next year.
The funding push comes against a backdrop of statewide strain on volunteer fire service. More than 75 percent of volunteer fire departments have reported a decline in the number of people willing to volunteer and serve in recent years, according to River Journal Online, which also reported that the state awarded $25 million in V-FIRE capital funding to 65 volunteer fire departments and districts outside New York City this cycle. One of those, Buchanan Engine Company No. 1, received $425,000 to replace deteriorating floors, masonry, its roof, HVAC and electrical systems — a department with 40 active members that answered 128 emergency calls last year and 89 so far this year, the outlet reported.
For Menands, the road back to a fully functioning firehouse is still being mapped out call by call, assessment by assessment. With engineering teams still working to agree on the building's condition and insurance questions unresolved, the department is leaning on state support and borrowed trucks to keep responding while the bigger rebuild takes shape.
