Fire Chief Michael Trovato
PROVINCETOWN – The Select Board was asked by Fire Chief Michael Trovato to put his $50,000 fire department building assessment request on the special town meeting warrant for this spring.
If the spending request was not on the warrant for the meeting, then the building assessment would have to wait until the beginning of the next fiscal year, July 1.
If approved, the request could be taken out of the current fiscal year budget.
Trovato has also requested that the Select Board not vote on any other use for the town land on Jerome Smith Road—formerly known as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) property—besides use by police or fire departments.
“We respectfully request that nothing be decided and no contracts be entered into for the VFW property until we can get this study completed and report back to the select board,” said Trovato.
The $50,000 would go towards creating an official building needs assessment study, an important step in getting any construction approved for the fire substation, training facility, and new police station that Trovato wants on the property.
Trovato said that emergency response times for police and fire vehicles are important to consider when finding locations for stations, which is why the VFW land is an appealing town property for the department.
“The first five minutes of a fire depicts the next five hours of the fire. Response time is critical for us, same with rescue, and same with police.”
The fire chief also said that the fire department’s training does not use chemical fire retardants, and as such a training space in the area would not have cause any environmental damage.
Other town lands available around Provincetown were also being considered for use in affordable housing, which Chief Trovato warned against until the building needs assessment could be completed.
“If the current police station gets changed to affordable housing, if the VFW gets changed to affordable housing, where are we going to go? Our options are going to be over. And we need to be close to town because of the response time, for fire, police, and rescue,” said Chief Trovato.
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