Building/Contributors

  On February 11th the Sykesville-Freedom District Fire Department had to respond to our own tragedy. As a result of the crippling snow storms we experienced in the Mid-Atlantic region, snow and ice continued to pile onto the roof over the Social Hall area and ultimatley collapsed. During the collapse a gas line that was feeding the entire fire station was ripped from the ground. Despite the efforts of Firefighters and utility workers to clear the vapors, a fire ignited. The ensuing fire was being fed by gas vapors and coninued to grow..and grow rapidly. Firefighters from Carroll, Howard, Baltimore, and Frederick Counties responded to the 3 alarm fire.  After several hours of effort, and the help of BGE the gas was shut off and the fire extinguised.

  The fire and collapse caused significant damage to the fire departments social hall (which is used for fundraising), living facilities, and offices which housed important documents and personnel records. The fire department is fully insured but will never be able to regain everything.

  Currently we are looking at rebuilding. This is a process that will take 12-18 months. Meetings with demolition contractors, architects, and builders are in the works.

  We will continue to provide fire and emergency services. Operating out of temporary facilities is taxing to all personnel. The outpouring of support from the community we protect is overwhelming. We are going to utilize this page of our website to provide updates, pictures, and recognition of those that have stepped up and contributed in many ways. We will keep this page updated regularly.

For those looking to help or contribute. Please call the fire station or contact us via mail. Thank you all for your support.

(410)795-9311

PO Box 275

Sykesville, Md 21784

Contributors

Salernos Restaurant and Catering  http://salernos.com

Building Progress

Feb 11 2010- Structural collapse with resulting fire which was fed by a broken gas line feeding the entire structure. Outpouring of support from the community and our fire department family. Plans for temporary structures to be in place tomorrow so we can continue to provide services.

Feb 20, 2010- The American Legion has hosted a departmental get together. Tonight was supposed to be the night of our annual banquet and it was decided to cancel due to everything else that is going on. It was nice for our volunteer and paid personnel to get together and unwind after a long week of dealing with the issues that have devoloped as a result of the fire. We are hoping for sunny skies in the future!

Feb 25, 2010- A lot has happened since the day of the fire. Numerous meetings with county officials, architects, planners, builders, and demolitionist are ongoing. Hope to have some plans to show which direction we are going to go with the rebuild within 30 days. We are operating out of temporary tent structures and it is not home..but it is allowing us to continue operations. After meeting with insurance represenatives, we hope to have some modular trailers in place for our use during this long process.

March 13, 2010- Bids for plumbing and demolition contracts are back and we are in the process of awarding those contracts. This is going to be an exciting week coming up. We are finally going to be moving out of the tents and into 2 modular structures, which will serve as our home until the building is rebuilt. The biggest benefit to the modulars is that it will allow for more comfortable living arrangement and the fact that we will be able to operate on our own utilities again. Still waiting on proposals to come back from the architectural firms. Hopefully in the coming weeks we will have some pictures of building ideas that we can share on this page. The outpouring of support from the residential and business community is still overwhelming.

March 15, 2010- Trailers are delivered and set up. Next to happen? Tents are coming down much to the relief of all personnel. Demolition is finally going to start next week and we can expect that to continue for the next 3-4 weeks. Local newspapers are still writing articles about the department and it is nice to see and hear of the fantastic support we are getting from the community.

April 8, 2010- A lot has been happening. Demolition is well under way, and we have started meeting with architects and reviewing proposals. There has been more damge to the building then originally thought. We are living in a double wide trailer and the tent is gone and forgotten about. We will have another trailer delivered next week to use as a dayroom and are for people to relax in versus sitting in the engine bay all the time.