YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. —The Yorktown Heights Fire District plans to demolish its nearly 75-year-old Commerce Street firehouse and replace it with a larger facility on the same site to better accommodate equipment, expand training space and enhance emergency response capabilities.
The $30 million project aims to modernize the station, now housed in a structure dating back to 1950, to meet growing demands and support the district’s long-term needs.
The district provides fire protection for approximately 36.2 square miles and serves about 30,000 residents and businesses. Officials said that as the town continues to grow, so will the needs of the fire district and its firefighters—making this the right time for a major upgrade.
Commissioner David Klaus, Chief Paul Liberatore and other agency leaders, along with attorney Mark Blanchard, appeared before the Town Board on July 8 to present plans to replace the fire station at 1916 Commerce St.
Blanchard, land use counsel for the fire district, said the proposed facility isn’t an exact match in square footage—the new building will be larger—but it aligns with public policy and meets the criteria for demolition and reconstruction. He emphasized that while they were presenting to the board, the project was not driven by the board. However, the fire district is still subject to the same open meeting laws and procedures as a town-led project.
“The new structure is to house apparatus, it’s to hold meetings, and to provide training—exactly what’s happening here now,” Blanchard said. “It’s just simply as the apparatus has grown, it has rendered, unfortunately, the current site obsolete.”
Officials said the proposed firehouse is designed to meet the district’s needs for the next 50 years and will comply with standards set by the National Fire Protection Association, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Klaus said the new three-story facility will remain a four-bay firehouse but will be about 20 feet wider and 30 to 40 feet deeper than the current building. The wider doors are needed to better accommodate modern apparatus, such as fire engines and ladder trucks, which are more than 2.5 times larger than the typical vehicles used decades ago.
“Between the combination of the square footage of the barn and the existing firehouse, we’re expanding by about 5,000 square feet,” Klaus said. “We’re getting so much more functional space.”
Town Board members expressed support for the project, acknowledging the growing need and the commitment of the all-volunteer agency.
“We basically consider this a generational project. The old building served us well,” Klaus told the board. “We’re looking for this building to do the same.”
Klaus said the fire department hopes the new building will last even longer.
Members of the public seeking more information about the project can visit yhfdistrictny.org. Next steps include public information meetings, the first of which is scheduled for July 22.
In a press release this month, the district said the project will cost approximately $30 million and result in a tax increase of about $21.12 per month for the average taxpayer in the district with a home assessed at $10,500.
The fire district intends to submit a bond resolution to voters, which Blanchard said requires a public vote.
“The district is always looking for alternative funding—anything to ease the burden on the taxpayer,” he said.
He added that the district is exploring grants to help offset the cost.
Officials said a special election will likely be scheduled for early September for the public to vote on the bond resolution. During construction, fire apparatus will be housed in a temporary on-site facility.
If approved, construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2026 and take about 18 months.
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