Long Beach Firehouse Gets $147K For HVAC Overhaul

LONG BEACH, NY. — Firefighters may be used to feeling the heat on the job, but they won’t have to feel it at Indiana Firehouse in Long Beach any longer, thanks to a contract authorized by the city council Tuesday night that will devote $147,000 of city funds to the replacement of a rooftop HVAC unit at the firehouse.

The firehouse's current HVAC unit has been out of service for more than two years, city officials said at the meeting, confirming with Patch Thursday that the unit was installed in 1981.

“It’s well-past its useful life, and proving very difficult for DPW to maintain, resulting in uncomfortable environments for our volunteer firefighters,” City Manager Dan Creighton said. “We were originally planning to push this work out a little bit further, but our DPW has been doing an incredible job, and they’ve achieved some significant savings on HVAC projects over the past year, so it affords us the opportunity to do this now."

For department officials, the replacement of the HVAC unit will remedy some harsh conditions at the firehouse, specifically its upper floors.

“For the last two years we haven’t had air conditioning upstairs, where it gets to a sweltering heat, you can’t even be up there. It’s long due to be replaced,” one department official said at the meeting.

The contract will cover a total replacement of the rooftop HVAC unit, installing a new, 17.5-ton unit atop the firehouse. Contracted to perform the work is Holbrook-based Premier Mechanical Services Inc., which was previously contracted to install HVAC equipment at Magnolia Senior Center at the council’s Oct. 21 meeting. That contract amounted to $667,700.

As for the $147,000 contract authorized Tuesday, the money to pay for the work will come out of the city’s building improvements account, Creighton said.

“We are replacing the current AC unit that’s on the roof in total. We’re not replacing pieces, or parts, this is a whole new unit,” Acting DPW Commissioner Ken Arnold said.

When the time came for public comment, East Fulton Street resident James Hodge commended the effort to remedy an issue facing firefighters.

“When we talk about the amazing individuals that run in when people run out, I just want to commend the HVAC [replacement], and anything that can help our paid, volunteer firefighters, because they do such a fantastic job for us,” Hodge said. “Again, just standing up to thank you. As I can stand up and say when we’re not doing something, I want to stand up and say when we are.”

From Councilman Michael Reinhardt’s point of view, the replacement was long overdue.

“I’m sorry that it took this long to fix, and I’m sorry that people who are volunteering to keep the community safe had to deal with this for so long,” Reinhardt said.