Wellesley Fire Department proposes plan to replace century-old station with modern facility, possibly on North 40

The Wellesley Fire Department presented its Fire Station Master Plan at the June 2 Select Board meeting, which proposes building a new headquarters to replace the century-old Fire Station One in Wellesley Square and heavily renovating Fire Station Two — the current headquarters on Rte. 9 west — to serve as a substation.

“At the end of the day, we have two beautiful buildings,” said Fire Chief Steve Mortarelli. “But, I think what the research shows, pretty much what we know already, is that these buildings are no longer conducive to being fire stations.”

The plan is broken down into two projects. The first aims to relocate Station One and replace it with a new 26,000-square-foot building, expand and renovate Fire Station Two, which would become a substation, and sell or repurpose the current Station One.

Jeff Shaw, president of Context Architecture, the consulting firm hired to develop the plan, said the project’s implementation would take roughly seven years. He said the project would consist of several phases, including feasibility studies, design and construction, during which there will be a temporary station for the firefighters.  

The estimated total project cost is between $65 million and $75 million, according to the presentation. 

Mortarelli said Station One would need to be replaced with a more modern facility designed to uphold the station’s operations, ensure firefighter safety and meet the community’s needs. 

The fire department is currently considering three locations for the new station: 156 Weston Rd. at the Curve Street intersection, 156 Weston Rd. at the Howe Street intersection and 515 Washington St, which is adjacent to the police station. The Weston Road properties are located on the town-owned North 40, a 46-acre, undeveloped parcel of land, and a fire station project there would require about 2 acres of space.

The challenge with 515 Washington St., Shaw said, is that it would require an Article 97 process, which involves legislative action and compliance requirements, due to its protected land status.

Shaw said the next steps for this project will be to finalize the report by incorporating new input from the Select Board and then requesting between $500,000 and $600,000 in funding for the feasibility study at the Fall 2026 Special Town meeting.

The second project would introduce a third station that would serve as a substation for the eastern section of Wellesley. The total estimated cost is $20 million to $22 million with construction expected in 2034 if such a plan moved forward.

While a two-station model is sufficient for now, increasing development in the future may warrant another, Shaw said. This project would only be initiated if the volume of calls increases and firefighter response times slow by 3% from the 2025 baseline.  

Outdated stations

Shaw said the changes under project one are necessary because the existing facilities are outdated and too small to fit the department’s firefighting apparatus. Station One is nearly 100 years old, and Station Two was built almost 40 years ago.

Since the stations were built, firefighting and fire station design standards have evolved, he said. 

For example, Station One’s square footage is less than half of what is now considered “best practice” for a headquarters, which is 13,000 square feet, according to the presentation. Station Two, on the other hand, meets only 60% of the space recommended for a substation.

Mortarelli said the existing facilities also fail to meet National Fire Protection Association standards in some areas, including firefighter health and wellness, exposure control and the ability to store and handle protective equipment.

Newer station designs keep gear in its own ventilated area, he said. However, their current Station One, based around an older design model, stores gear on the apparatus floor, which he said is the most contaminated area in the station. 

This causes the contaminants to be “all over” the gear, he said.

Over the past several years, Mortarelli said, about a dozen active and recently retired firefighters have contracted cancer, and he had to place two on disability pension. The department has under 60 firefighters, so those numbers are alarming, he said.

Since firefighters are at greater risk of cancer than the average person, Mortarelli said it is the job of he and other community leaders to ensure firefighters’ health and safety.

“We understand that. We know that. We took the job anyway,” he said. “As community leaders, it’s our responsibility that we provide a safe environment for our firefighters so that they can do their job to keep the residents of Wellesley safe, all the while keeping themselves safe.”

Feedback on the plan & next steps

Select Board Member Beth Sullivan Woods said the Board needs to discuss siting with the community, especially because the most recommended location is situated in a “pretty residential neighborhood.”

Meghan Jop, Wellesley’s executive director of general government services, responded, explaining that the options are “very limited” because the preferred sites were selected specifically because they meet the standards for response time.

Community members have already raised concerns about the siting options, particularly with the ideal location appearing to cover the North 40 community gardens. 

For example, in a letter to Precinct B Town Meeting and Select Board members, Wellesley resident Miriam Gates wrote that making this change would be a “great loss to the neighborhood.” She requested that they communicate with neighbors and other stakeholders to “get a better sense of this possible use of our essential Town resource.”

Select Board Member Colette Aufranc and Facilities Director Joe McDonough said public engagement needs to begin as soon as possible to familiarize the community with the project and discuss this and other potential concerns, such as disruption caused by fire vehicle sirens, as the project heads toward its feasibility study phase.

Select Board Chair Marjorie Freiman said the Board will start the public engagement process, but noted that previous stations located in the middle of residential areas, such as the Walnut Street station used until the 1980s, have “functioned fine.”

“We’re going to have to make some concessions in order to get the right station that has the right facilities for our firefighters,” Freiman said.