Fire department fixer-upper: Fairmont receives $1M in federal monies to upgrade Watson substation
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FAIRMONT - That $1 million sure is burning a hole in Brian Starn's pocket these days.
Starn, who serves as chief of Fairmont Fire Department, was talking about the federal outlay recently awarded to the city from the state's lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The chief said the dollars will be used for renovations at the city's aging Watson Fire Substation on Mary Lou Retton Drive. It was built in 1980.
"The substation hasn't received a lot of attention since," Starn said. "Our firefighters deserve the best."
There's a fundamental reason why, the chief said: Those who roll each time a 911 call comes in are among the city's busiest employees.
Starn's firefighters regularly respond to around 3,000 calls a year - and that's not counting unprecedented weather emergencies, such as the Father's Day flood of 2025.
That's when three inches of rain came pounding down in less than a half-hour.
That's when crews were out in the middle of it all on 165 calls, with most of them turning out to be water rescues.
That's when one firefighter famously swam through five feet of water in a flooded bowl of a parking lot to free a woman from an apartment building that partially collapsed during the deluge.
"Fairmont's first responders put their lives on the line every day to protect their neighbors," said U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, who delivered the check.
"They deserve a facility that ensures they have the tools and resources necessary to do their jobs safely and effectively."
A little quality of life doesn't hurt, Starn added, for the substation that answers calls for Fairmont State University and nearby I-79 Technology Park.
Planned upgrades include the addition of a gym, a sauna and enhanced living quarters for the firefighters on shift rotations.
Creature comforts aren't unreasonable, the chief said, given the inherent danger of the job in the 21st century.
Especially, he added, for the synthetic construction materials that inevitably make for a toxic airborne stew any time a structure goes up.
In July, Starn's department became the first in West Virginia to achieve Gold Helmet status from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. Fairmont FD is now part of NIOSH's national cancer registry.
Data gathered from the registry will help in the formation of screening and prevention programs that will benefit firefighters today and later, when they hang up their helmets for good.