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The Highlands

Updated On: Mar 05, 2010 (18:05:00)

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On March 16, 1942, Town Meeting appropriated $1,200.00 to remodel a former construction office on the corner of Washington St. and Brewster Ave. for use as a fire station. Due to the increase in construction of homes and the threat of air raids during World War II better fire protection was needed for the Highlands district of Braintree. On November 30, 1942 at 1:55pm, the Highlands Fire Station went into service with a new engine, Engine 4, and one man.

Highlands Station 1944

In 1951 Chief Harry Sears requested an increase in personnel and construction of a new fire station in the Highlands. A corner lot at the Highlands School on Wildwood Ave. was chosen as the best site and plans were drawn for a brick building capable of housing two fire engines and four firefighters.

The proposed station for Wildwood Ave 1951

At Town Meeting in 1952 no action was taken on Article 39 to transfer land at the Highlands School to the Fire Department. Many neighbors were opposed to having a fire station so close to the school. A new committee was formed an alternate site on Washington St. opposite Park Ave. was chosen as the most suitable site for a new fire station. A second firefighter was added to the engine at the Highlands in 1952.

Town Meeting in 1953 voted not to build a new station, but to raise $19,800.00 to build an addition to the existing structure. The construction was completed and the building was accepted and occupied on October 15, 1953. During construction the engine ran out of a garage at the nearby Norfolk County Hospital. The new addition gave the station room for two engines with sleeping and living quarters for three firefighters.

The station after the 1954 addition. The front part of the building was the public library.

The Highlands Fire Station remained this way into the 1980's. In January 1983 the building was deemed structurally unsound. Chief Carl Vitagliano helped form a committee to choose a site for a new station. Meanwhile, the Fire Department took over the old library side of the building as larger living quarters. Finally after many years trying to find a suitable site, land was purchased from the MBTA at Washington St opposite Bellevue Ave. Town Meeting 1994 approved the funds for a new Highlands Fire Station and construction began in August 1995. The building was formally dedicated and went into service on August 18, 1996.