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(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2022)
Members of the Saratoga Springs City Council and Fire Department broke ceremonial ground on Fire Station #3, Aug. 16, 2022. They are from left: Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran, Commissioner of Public Works Jason Golub, Mayor Ron Kim, Fire Chief Joseph Dolan, and Commissioner of Public Safety James Montagnino.
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(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2022)
Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim thanked the city's professional staff and the staff in the fire department for pushing, over 20 years, to turn Fire Station #3 into a reality. He also thanked former Mayor Meg Kelly and former Commissioner of Public Safety Robin Dalton for their work securing the location at 16 Henning Road.
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(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2022)
New York State Sen. Daphne Jordan pushed for the New York State Racing Association to lease land for Fire Station #3. Standing to her right is Fire Chief Joseph Dolan, and to her left is Commissioner of Public Safety James Montagnino.
Current and former Saratoga Springs political officials, county and state politicians, professional city staff and the Saratoga Springs Fire Department broke ceremonial ground on Fire Station #3 at 16 Henning Road, on Tuesday Aug. 16, 2022. The station is the only one on the “Eastern Plateau” of the city, a location east of downtown that reaches the western shores of Saratoga Lake. By most measures, the planning for this station started at least 20 years ago. The property is on a long-term lease from the New York Racing Association.
“Today marks a milestone,” in the city’s history, said Fire Chief Joseph Dolan to a crowd of dozens. He said that Station #1 was built in the 1930s, Station #2 in the 1970s. "Now we're here today for Station three in 2022."
Dolan said the station will improve response to the Eastern Plateau, but the station is more than that.
“It’s going to improve coverage within our city,” he said. “We’ve had higher incidents of overlapping calls that require more service, more apparatus, more personnel to provide the quality of service this city deserves.”
He said the station would not only be home to the fire fighters but also to the county’s Hazmat team.
It will act as an emergency operations center if needed for fire, police and rescue personnel.
“In the event of a disaster in the city of Saratoga Springs, key figures will be able to operate in an environment that is conducive to make good and important decisions to mitigate anything that is brought to this city, whether it be natural or manmade disasters.”
He added that the station will be used for public and community safety education, such as CPR training.
Mayor Ron Kim saluted the work of the politicians who pushed for this but highlighted the efforts of city staff, the fire department and people on the Eastern Plateau who worked to make this happen.
“These are the people who brought this to fruition,” Kim said of city staff. They “didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”
He also singled out previous city councils that worked on this project but said that former Mayor Meg Kelly and former Commissioner of Public Safety Robin Dalton needed congratulations for securing the site. State Sen. Daphne Jordan also said that she pushed at the state level to have the New York Racing Association lease the land to the city.
Before the ceremony, Commissioner of Public Safety James Montagnino said that he moved to Saratoga Springs 20 years ago, and even then people were talking about a Fire Station on the Eastern Plateau.
During his official remarks, he said he had little to do with the work others completed to bring the station to fruition, adding that he hopes “to live up to the weight of responsibility.”
He, and others, thanked Assistant Fire Chief Aaron Dyer who has been working on this project and will see it through to completion, Montagnino said. According to Montagnino the station should be ready for work next April.
The project approved in January 2021, at $6.7 million for design and construction, has seen cost increases associated with inflation and supply chain issues.
The city has approved additional capital spending of $1.475 million, Montagnino said before the ceremony.
Former Commissioner of Public Safety Robin Dalton said Mayor Kelly at the time negotiated for the site that was secured in 2020 just before the pandemic hit. Suddenly, they were not sure what would happen at that point.
“I am so happy, so, so happy,” Dalton said before the ceremony. She said this station will reduce response times to Lake Lonely and Saratoga Lake, saving lives. “You can’t put a price on this today.”