Tower Road locals working to save fire hall
TOWER ROAD — After the closure of the Tower Road Volunteer Fire Department last month, locals are putting their minds together to preserve the hall next door.
About 70 people met at the Tower Road Fire Hall on Monday evening — separate from the former fire department’s main building — to discuss what lies ahead for the building, which functions as Tower Road’s community centre.
The meeting was called almost immediately once news emerged of the fire department’s closure and its turning in of certification back to Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
There’s a checklist of things that need addressing at the hall, arising both before and after the fire department announced its closure on March 29. They range from repairs to the property to what the ownership situation will become with the last owner, the fire department, no longer functioning.
A member from the Tower Road Community Association’s board said the Monday meeting’s turnout was encouraging for the future of the hall.
“It was heartwarming,” said Nicole Skalaa of the meeting’s attendance. She lives in Glace Bay but grew up in Tower Road.
Skalaa said the hall isn’t only important for those living immediately in Tower Road but for nearby Glace Bay and beyond, who use it for their own events or to play in the local darts league.
Preserving the hall is also about its history — including within the families of many Tower Road faithful.
“My father and other dads out there were all firemen at one time. All the women ran the ladies’ auxiliary. It’s about the legacy and to keep that going.”
PLANS TO MOVE FIRE HALL NEXT DOOR
Monday’s meeting was about the fire hall community centre, rather than the fire department’s main building. However, with the fire hall aging, participants discussed the eventual need to move the community centre space somewhere else.
Right now, the plan is to retrofit the main fire department building into a new
community centre. Meeting attendees discussed fundraising options on Monday to accomplish this.
“The hall is old, so its life cycle is nearly (over),” Skalaa said of the current location. The Tower Road fire hall is an old church that was moved to the community from Birch Grove after the previous fire hall had burned.
Before such a move, the question of who will assume ownership of the buildings still has to be settled.
In the short term, one pressing matter is restoring the hall’s liquor license. It doesn’t have one at the moment because the last license was registered under the now-closed fire department.
Until the license is restored, the hall is unable to host some events such as dances and shows.
Meeting organizers also put out a call for volunteers. Skalaa said they collected more than 20 names at the meeting.
For fundraising, the community association is accepting cash donations with other events in the process of being planned.
Skalaa said the fire hall has continued to draw strong interest in its events over the years.
“With the events that we hold, it brings people together,” she said. “I joined art out there this year and I can’t believe how many new people
I’ve met from the Road that have moved in.
“When you have the fire hall up and running, that’s where people meet.”
COUNCILLOR: ‘AN ACTIVE COMMUNITY HALL’
The large turnout at Monday’s meeting — a mix of Tower Road residents and folks from other communities — left the area’s CBRM councillor James Edwards with one key takeaway: the fire hall is on a promising path forward. He was among those in attendance at the meeting.
“There are some legal elements that have to be worked out first, but I’m certainly confident that the hall will still be used for community events hopefully forever,” he said.
“Both the fire department and the community seem to be going in the same direction. It’s just a matter of getting all of the red tape fixed up and ironed out.”
Edwards said members of the former volunteer fire department would aid in the transition so the hall could continue to be used.
The meeting also highlighted to him just how crucial the hall is as a meeting space for different reasons.
“They want it. There’s lots of things the hall is used for, everything from yoga, Christmas events, dances, birthdays and anniversaries,” he said.
“It’s an active community hall. You drive by there and see something on the sign all the time about what’s going on.”