Mineola Mayor Paul Pereira said Wednesday night the Mineola Fire Department Headquarters is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with “substantial” construction finished by the end of September.
“The firehouse is well underway,” Pereira said during the board of trustees meeting. “We have several trades currently working there between masonwork, framing and electrical starting up soon. It is really beginning to take shape.”
Last week, firefighters and village officials signed their names on the last steel beam to be installed during a topping-off ceremony to commemorate the event.
“We are grateful that we have friends and neighbors that are willing to volunteer and sacrifice for the rest of us,” Pereira said. “The new headquarters will house the 135-plus year strong Mineola Volunteer Fire Department for the next 135. Thank you all for your service and may you always return safe.”
Construction for the new headquarters on Jericho Turnpike began last summer. In 2019, ex-Mayor Scott Strauss — himself a firefighter — revealed that the department’s century-old building on Jericho Turnpike would have to be torn down because of structural issues.
The old headquarters opened in 1913 as the firehouse for the department’s Company No. 2, which had been established six years earlier.
With Company No. 1’s home on Main Street — which was also serving as Village Hall at the time — in bad shape, the village decided in 1925 to expand the Jericho Turnpike building so it could house both companies.
The revamped headquarters was dedicated in 1928 and served the village for more than nine decades before its demolition, which took place from early February to mid-April.
The construction has displaced Truck Company No. 2 and its roughly 100 members to move their gear, vehicles and equipment to Engine Company No.3 on Elm Street, Chief Andrew Martone Jr. told Blank Slate Media last year.
In unrelated village news, Pereira reminded residents to be aware of changes in their sanitation schedules around holidays and that businesses and residents who do not abide have been sent notices.
“In the last two to three weeks we’ve sent out several dozen notices of violation and summonses to businesses and residents who do not abide by the sanitation schedule,” Pereira said. “First they get a letter reminding them and if they continue they will get a summons and go before our judge.”
Information about the sanitation schedule can be found on the village’s website. Every year, a newsletter is mailed out and residents can sign up for village alerts via email or the MyMineola app.