It's Moving Day for Greenwich Fire Department

A new day is dawning for Greenwich firefighters. For years , rain dripping inside bunk rooms and less than palatable cooking and eating quarters in Central Station.

At 4 p.m. today, they are scheduled to officially leave the circa mid-1930s headquarters at the corner of Havemeyer Place and Mason Street. The engine company and ladder crew assigned to the building will relocate into new digs for the next three years as the Town of Greenwich demolishes the decrepit building and replaces it with a $21million state-of-the-art facility. The new building will be the capstone of the Public Safety Complex that will house both the Greenwich Police and Fire departments. 

One four-person engine company and a deputy chief will be assigned to the temporary quarters built in the Horseneck Lane commuter parking lot on Horseneck Lane and Shore Road. The temporary quarters is all new from the kitchen to the lockers and the beds in the bunk rooms. The ladder crew will be assigned to quarters within the Cos Cob Volunteer Fire Company.

"The guys are looking forward to it," Group 1 Lt. John Edwards said Monday. In between calls, crews packed up equipment, tools and assorted gear with the town's Department of Public Works helping to move it. According to Assistant Chief Robert Kick, the move Wednesday is the culmination of meticulous planning for the relocation of telephone, computer, and other equipment. (Please see video.)

"They did a nice job down there," Edwards said of the Horseneck Lane facility. "With the sewage backups, this building has seen better times," he said of the current headquarters.

The move also means reassignment of equipment. The Tower 1 truck with its extension bucket is too large for the Cos Cob station, so it will be assigned to the Glenville Fire Department headquarters. The Ladder 4 truck will be assigned to the Old Greenwich station and Ladder 5 to Cos Cob, according to fire officials.

Kick said that at 4 p.m. Wednesday, the first crew will arrive for work out of Horseneck Lane. "It's no frills but it'll work for the next three years," Kick said.

In the meantime the town is seeking bids for the demoliton of the building while architects finish plans for the building that is expected to be completed by 2015.