Newtown Ambulance Corps Breaks Ground At Fairfield Hills Site

When members of a team who worked to bring a new ambulance center to Fairfield Hills broke ground Monday afternoon, it wasn't only the first step in a construction project. It was the culmination of years of work to provide a new home to Newtown's Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

"We have been working hard to get this for a number of years," said Ambulance Association President Robert Grossman. "It's taken very hard and very long hours to accomplish getting started."

Newtown's Board of Selectmen approved the new headquarters in May, but the Fairfield Hills Authority had discussed the matter long before then. Upon approval, First Selectman Pat Llodra told Ambulance Association members the building would make " a great addition to the campus ... I'm happy to see we have worked out the little bumps in the road."

Addressing crowds Monday, Llodra praised the hard work of Newtown's emergency corps.

"Countless members of our citizens have been helped by this corps," Llodra said. "We are lucky indeed truly blessed by their spirit of service."

"It's an exciting time and the start of a new era," said the ambulance corps' Stuart Rieve, delivering an address before he and others ceremonially tossed the first dirt. "It'll serve our community for years to come."

Formed in 1939, the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance and Emergency Corps has spent years stationed in a refurbished former Mobil station at 77 Main Street. Ambulance Association President Robert Grossman drew laughs when he said the current facility had "wonderful sleeping quarters."

"On the floor, on the couch on the chair," he joked. "I give the members of the ambulance corps tremendous credit for putting up with these accommodations."

The new facility will offer sleeping quarters for 10 EMTs at a time, as well as room to hold up to 6 ambulances. Hamden-based architects Silver/Petrucelli designed the headquarters, paid for through the ambulance association's capital expenses with no additional cost to the budget, according to Ambulance Association officials. Officials told Patch in May the project will cost between $4 and $5 million and take about 14 months to complete.