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The event occurred in Dutchess County on Saturday, Nov. 16, in Beacon.
According to Beacon Mayor Lee Kyriacou, the new central station for the Beacon Fire Department, located at the “gateway” to Beacon on Route 9D opposite City Hall, represents the culmination of decades of studies and plans to consolidate three fire stations into one central location.
Kyriacou said the 17,000-square-foot facility, which costs $14.7 million, is the largest capital project in the City’s history.
The new state-of-the-art facility is a modern, energy-efficient building designed to complement the community's historic architecture. It will offer enhanced emergency response capabilities and improved safety for Beacon residents and local firefighters.
“As Mayor, I insisted we reuse an existing firehouse and not build a new one, which substantially reduced construction costs and enabled investment in state-of-the-art fire safety and building efficiency while avoiding large tax increases," said Kyriacou.
Beacon Fire Chief Thomas Lucchesi highlighted some of the station’s features for enhanced firefighter safety, support, and morale: “There are ample living quarters including six dorm rooms, a fully outfitted physical fitness room, and advanced training spaces – designed to enhance the well-being and readiness of Beacon’s firefighters,” he said.
The city vacated the former Tompkins Hose Firehouse on this site at the end of 2022, officially broke ground in June 2023, and finished the facility at the end of October 2024.
The city’s decades-long transition from three firehouses operated by volunteer companies to a central fire station with primarily career firefighters has spanned four mayoral administrations, city officials said,
Kyriacou's decision to renovate the former Tompkins Hose Firehouse, constructed in 1982, substantially reduced overall cost.
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