Greg Stuart, center, a firefighter with the Clinton and Winslow fire departments, is joined Sunday by Ethan Bowers, 7, of Benton and his sister, Emma Rimes-Bowers, 14, of Clinton as they learn about the Clinton Fire & Rescue Department during an open house. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

CLINTON — The Clinton fire station on Church Street is old, cramped and inadequate for the needs of today’s firefighters and equipment, prompting the need for a new station.

That was the word Sunday from officials who answered questions Sunday at an open house held at the station at 19 Church St.

Town voters are set to vote Nov. 5 on a referendum asking if they want to borrow up to $1.9 million to help fund a new fire station to be built on a lot next to the Town Office at 27 Baker St.

The money would be added to about $2 million the town was awarded two years ago for a new fire station as part of congressional spending, officials said.

“We need more space, we need more people, we need everything,” Town Manager Daniel Swain said.

Swain was talking with fire Chief Travis Leary and others inside the fire station Sunday. Outside, firefighters spoke with residents on a sunny, 70-degree day, as children played football on the quiet street.

Leary said the original fire station in the center of the lot was built in the 1950s, and two bays were added in 2003 to the right of the building and three were built to the left. The bays house ambulances, a pickup truck and three fire trucks, he said. The old station was renovated at the time to retrofit the meeting room, office, kitchen and living quarters.

“Basically, two ambulances are double-parked, so there’s no space in between,” Leary said. “Fire engines, same thing. Trucks are getting bigger and longer due to EMS standards, and a replacement pumper tanker would be, like, 36, 37 feet, and the bay is only 40 feet long. Even now, if the trucks are in, they have to be turned sideways.”

The lot on which the station sits also is too small, with a thin strip of pavement on either side, and a small section behind the station, according to Leary.

“We can’t add on,” he said. “If we could put an addition on, we could gain more space that way, but we just don’t own the land.”

Greg Stuart, a firefighter with the Clinton and Winslow fire departments, guides Mason Gerry, 12, of Skowhegan as Gerry uses a fog nozzle Sunday to knock a bottle off a large traffic cone during an open house hosted by the Clinton Fire & Rescue Department. The water pattern can be changed on the nozzle, Stuart says. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

The town bought a house lot two or three years ago next to the Town Office, which is where a new fire station would be built — to the left, as one is facing the building.

The police station is at the Town Office.

“As town manager, I’d like to create a campus with the fire chief, town manager and police chief all in one place,” Swain said.

Clinton officials have been working on plans for a fire station for about four years, or about as long as the town has had a building committee. Originally, officials hoped to build a public safety building to house the Police and Fire departments, but when the town applied for a federal grant, only a fire station was approved, according to Leary.

Residents voted to approve money to design a new fire station, which was done by Dirigo Engineering of Fairfield. The town also appropriated more than $100,000 at the town meeting to be used toward a station. Officials put the project out to bid, and chose Blane Casey Contractors of Augusta as the contractor, if voters approve funding Nov. 5.

“This is a good community, and they’ve always supported the Fire Department very well,” Leary said. “I’m in hopes that they continue it and see that we have a new station. I think it’s necessary to invest in your community, especially public safety-wise. Part of this was to build a building that will last us 50-plus years, so the town doesn’t have to worry about this for a long time.”

The existing fire station is about 5,000 square feet, while a new station would be about 10,000 square feet, Leary said. The Fire Department employs about 25 full- and part-time firefighters, and about a dozen per diem firefighters.

Becky Stuart, a firefighter with the Clinton Fire Department, assists Ethan Bowers, 7, of Skowhegan as he tries on firefighting gear Sunday during an open house hosted by the Clinton Fire & Rescue Department. Bowers and others at the open house are exploring firefighting and other rescue vehicles and operating a hose line. Stuart’s husband, Greg Stuart, left, is a firefighter with the Clinton and Winslow fire departments. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Leary and Swain said Casey’s estimate for a new station was $3.9 million, but the town hopes to decrease the amount, possibly to $3.7 million.

If voters approve borrowing the money, which the Clinton Board of Selectmen has recommended, the process would begin right away, and ground would be broken as soon as the weather permits next spring, according to Leary, who is also the fire chief for the Fairfield and Benton Fire-Rescue Department.

Voting is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 5 at the Town Office. Residents will be asked to vote on five other referendums, all by secret ballot.

The questions ask if voters want to:

• Raise and appropriate $62,906 for the code enforcement budget.

• Allow the sale and on-premises consumption of beer, wine and liquor by Maine-licensed establishments to be permitted Monday through Saturday in the town.

• Allow the sale and on-premises consumption of beer, wine and liquor by Maine-licensed establishments to be permitted Sunday in the town.

• Enact a town solar ordinance.

• Amend the town’s land use ordinance to revise the land use zoning map to expand the industrial-commercial zone situated on the west side of Interstate 95 to include the town’s tax map 3 Lot 16 property.