The NP Fire Station
The city of New Philadelphia Ohio’s Fire Department is currently putting the final touches on their new fire station. It is located on Front St. before entering into the south side.
The original fire station was built in 1929. Back in the day they obviously did not have firetrucks and instead, had horse drawn carriages that they used as a form of transportation for firefighters and the hoses needed to plug into the fire hydrogens.
With the old fire station they had a basement. The basement was fine in the 1900’s when all the station held was firemen, horses, and carts. But now, as the country has industrialized and has bettered the safety of the human race the basement has become an issue.
Firetruck engines came into being around the 1960’s. Of course the New Philadelphia fire department upgraded from their horse drawn carriages to the these 10,000-16,000 pound vehicles (depending on whether or not they contain firemen and their 4,000 lbs of water).
On the first level the weight of all those trucks is slowly destroying the base of the fire station and in time the building together will collapse killing everyone inside the building.
Seems like a good idea to make a brand new one without a basement right??
Even though the Women’s Rights Movement ended in the 1920’s there weren’t many female firefighters. The first one was in New York but, Phila is a lot smaller than the City that Never Sleeps. So, the old firestation does not have the right accommodations for a women firefighter and now, in the 2000’s women can become anything and everything they want which includes becoming a firefighter.
With this new station New Philadelphia will be able to successfully accommodate female firefighters. They hope to be the first one in the area to have a set of female fighters. (They just low key want to beat Dover.)
For me, this was extremely interesting. My family is friends with the current Fire chief and his family. Watching him light up when I asked about what to write for this blog post to tell me all about his pride and joy of the station was amazing.
But, most of all I find this interesting because it reminded me of an upgrade. The old building no longer fit the needs of the people and needed to be redone. It was an awesome way for me to see how society has changed along with our needs and how much more efficient we have become with transportation.
Below is a link that you can look at the outside of the old firehouse, and the picture is of the new station that is almost finished being built.
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