Construction Begins on West Natick Fire Station

Construction on the new West Natick fire station began in late May and is expected to be completed in July 2020. At a groundbreaking ceremony May 28, Fire Chief Mike Lentini expressed gratitude to Natick voters who approved the Proposition 2 ½ override in the November 6 election, and to the Board of Selectmen who accepted a bid of $12.3 million dollars from Castagna Construction Corp of Newburyport to undertake the project.
“I did expect it would pass,” says Lentini, “but I didn’t expect it to pass so overwhelmingly. 76% of vote was yes.”
The West Natick station at 286 Speen Street and Hartford Street, known as Fire Station 4, responds to about 40% of the emergency calls for the town. The current station, built in 1956, cannot accommodate the size and amount of equipment that the department has accumulated or aspires to acquire: two spare engines, a heavy rescue truck, a hazardous materials truck, dive equipement and a boat, plus a spare ladder truck the department plans to purchase in the next five years. “We do so many things now as far as services are concerned,” Lentini says. The rescue truck provides equipment for trench rescue, building collapse, rope rescue, confined spaces rescue, and other intrepid endeavors.
During the Boston Marathon, Station 4 will also act as a backup emergency dispatch center to run operations while Route 135 is closed and the town is divided into north and south sides.
The initiative for rebuilding the station began ten years ago, and the plans that are coming to fruition include a “pocket park” with pathways, a few plantings and a bench or two, “a green space,” says Lentini. The current station will operate during construction, and when completed, the training division will move to Station 4. “We are jammed in Station 1. It is huge help for us. The most significant change is to ease up storage space. The need for the station is immense.”