Ahead of Schedule and On Budget: Tour the Branford New FDHQ [VIDEO]

The , the roof is going on and the interior space is getting the finishing touches. Chief Jack Ahern could not be happier. “It’s good to see everything come together,” Ahern said last week as he offered Patch a tour of the brand new 32,000-square-foot .

It’s true, it almost never happens, but the project is ahead of schedule, said Ahern. Mostly, the mild winter has allowed Turner Construction to keep a steady pace since day one of , said Ahern.

Right now, , paint dresses the walls and office furniture moves in, Ahern said his only concern is making sure the technology is wrapped up in a timely fashion. The department will have their existing CAD systems switched over to the new facility as well as the traffic light moved down the road for the new entrance/exit. The alerting system, which tones the station, turns on the traffic light and opens the facility's truck bay doors, will need be working smoothly before the final move can be made.

Though Ahern said he’s heard a lot about the massive size of the new facility compared to the old, he said once people walk through, they will see it’s not as big as it looks. “When you get into there,” he commented, “you see it’s well used space; very well thought out.”

The new facility is slated to welcome the firefighters sometime in early May. The old facility will be demolished around June and turned into a parking lot; the public will be invited for tours sometime in August, said Ahern.

While you wait to get inside the new HQ, we offer this video tour. 

By The Numbers

• Overall budget: $12.5 million.
• As of now, he project is coming in under budget by $200,000.
• Solar panels will be added back to the project cost for $159,000 (11 years payback).
• Geothermal system has been, in part, (five to six years payback).
• There was an extra, unforeseen cost to remediate and remove contaminated soil.
• There was an extra cost to remove large petrified tree stumps and debris, which may have been dumped on the property as late as the 1950s or used as fill when the old fire department was built then.