Fire Brigade Restores New Life To Old Barn

by Kate Gutierrez - The Landmark, Holden MA. - December 23, 1999 Photos by Steven King

Last Friday's sunny morning may have marked the first time in weeks that firefighters, at least Rutland firefighters, could move out of the shadow of the Worcester Cold Storage tragedy and into a light-a copper-topped light.

As they watched the 1,500-pound, copper-topped cupola, complete with a 28-inch cast iron bell, being lifted by crane from a flatbed trailer to the top of the old fire barn, members of the Rutland Fire Brigade were all smiles.

	Cupola designer Jim Donovan used this 1897 photograph of the "old" fire barn and cupola to design the new one. Photo courtesy of Rutland Fire Brigade.

Led by Dick Barakian, Harry Spencer, Kevin McCarthy and Randy Jordan among others, the 120-member Rutland Fire Brigade has worked hard to raise money for the restoration of the old fire barn which sits perched on the gentle Main Street slope across from Naquag Elementary School.

The fire brigade has a 25-year renewable lease on the fire barn; they pay the town only one dollar a year, but must incur all restoration costs. By soliciting donations and orchestrating successful fundraisers like the annual Chowder Challenge, the brigade has raised thousands of dollars to bring new life to the old building.

	Rutland's ladder tower truck is pulled out to add the finishing touches.

Fire Chief Thomas Ruchala noted that the old fire barn, built in 1897, is the oldest town building left in Rutland. According to a history in the 1994 Rutland Fire Brigade Cookbook (another fundraiser), voters at a March 1897 town meeting approved $200 toward the building's construction, and by September of that year, Rutland boasted a one-story "hose house" complete with cupola and bell, to call volunteers in the event of a fire.

In 1933, the fire barn got a second-story addition and in the process the cupola's size was reduced. Then in 1951, according to Ruchala, voters approved $250 to removed the deteriorating cupola and bell. And so the fire barn was left with just a square "stump" atop its roof, which remained cupola-less until last week.

	Members of the fire brigade guide the cupola onto it's "stump" and bolt it in place.

In 1978, the fire barn became the "old fire barn" when the department relocated to the brick-faced headquarters they operated from today. Over the years, the town used the barn for storage of public works vehicles, but no money was put into the building's maintenance, and its inevitable deterioration ensued.

When in 1992 there began talk of tearing the 19th century building down, the fire brigade sprang into action. "We got together and said, 'We have to get some fundraisers going. We can't let the building go,'" said Ruchala.

"At that time we thought it was too big a project for us to do alone."

So the fire brigade enlisted the help of the Rutland Historical Society and together they put an end to the fire barn's leaking roof, splitting the cost of the $6,200 repair.

Custom-made

Since then the fire brigade, thanks in part to the reasonable rent, has been able to accept sole responsibility for restorations costs. Along with the new roof, the old barn has received healthy doses of loving care: its windows have been refitted, its clapboards scraped and painted, its wiring service has been updated, and two custom-made showpieces, the overhead garage door and now the cupola, have both been commissioned and installed to make the building look like it did 100 years ago.

Once the new cupola has proved it is water-tight, the maple hardwood floors on the second floor will be refinished, and the walls will be insulated.

The fire barn is home to a collection of antique fire gear, an American LaFrance antique fire truck, a Model T and a Diamond T, not to mention the Union Jack-covered go-cart, last seen in the Fourth of July Parade manned by "Austin Powers," When restoration is complete, the brigade hopes to open the building to the public to show off the treasured pieces of Rutland Fire Department history, along with the results of the brigade's hard work.

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