The community got to see first-hand Sunday afternoon why the Onset Fire Department is in the process of upgrading its space.

The department held an open house, in order to get the community involved in the department and allow them to get an inside look at department life. The department is currently in the process of creating a new or revamped facility.

In May 2016, the Onset Fire Station Building Committee will present its report at the District Annual Meeting and request authorization to expend funds for a Professional Feasibility Study.

“As our job has evolved and things have changed, the building itself hasn't, unfortunately grown with us,” said Onset Fire Chief Ray Goodwin. “It's become very difficult to fit the trucks into the building.”

When the station was first built in 1960, Goodwin said, the trucks were much smaller. Over the decades, the trucks have gotten bigger. The new ladder truck, which went into use in December of 2015, can't fit into the building, and is housed to the side of it. There are also trucks and engines that are parked outside, under a large, white tent with a tarp roof.

Engine 2 is the station's latest engine, which was built in 2002. Engine 19, their oldest, was built around 1985 and will be replaced in two years. Prior to December 2015, the ladder truck the department used was built in the 1970s.

Goodwin said there is an overall lack of storage space in the building. There are no lockers for the firefighters to store their jackets and gear: they are all hung on hooks in the a garage with three other engines.

The old building also lacks the proper electrical and heating requirements that the growing department needs, Goodwin said.

Some parts of the building are even obsolete, like the hose tower. Back when fire hoses were made of fabric, they needed to be dried after each use. To dry a hose, fire fighters would fold it in half and hoist it up the tower using a pulley system, where it would dangle to dry. Since the hoses nowadays are made of plastic, that tower is simply being used a miscellaneous supplies closet, Goodwin said.

Other parts of the building are missing basic necessities. There is only a single bathroom, but the department would need separate men's and women's bathrooms in a new or revised building. Currently, overnight firefighters use the stairs to get to the trucks rather than a pole that transports them from upstairs, where there are two bedrooms, to the bottom floor.

The station runs solely on tax revenues, and does not receive state or local aid.

The Fire Station Building Committee has drafted and revised a three-year plan and listed eight reasons for a new fire station, both of which were handed out at the open house.

Goodwin said he was “very happy just to get the public into the building and have people meet everybody."

“The public doesn't see this,” said retired Onset Firefighter Lenny Gay. “They see the firetruck go in front of the house, and the guys rush off and do whatever they gotta do. They don't see the house we live in, how crowded it is, and sometimes how difficult it is to deal with this place.”