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Work progressing on Moosic’s new $6.1 million emergency services building

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Moosic

Moosic’s police and fire departments will be under one roof by the end of the year.

Construction is on-budget and underway for the borough’s new emergency services building on Birney Avenue, with construction expected to be completed in November, said Mayor Bob Bennie. Using $6.1 million in funding from multiple sources, the roughly 18,000-square-foot emergency services building is directly behind the existing Greenwood Hose Company 1 firehouse at 3727 Birney Ave., which will be demolished as the new building nears completion. It will house both the Fire Department and the Police Department, which was forced out of its police station three years ago due to mold.

“We’re really, really excited,” Bennie said.

The borough broke ground on its emergency services headquarters in August. Officials had hoped to finish construction in early fall 2025, but a stretch of extremely cold winter weather limited what they could do and put them behind schedule, Bennie said.

“The concrete doesn’t like to cooperate too much from the temperatures as cold as they were,” he said. “That was the only delay.”

  • The exterior of the new EMA building in Moosic Friday,...

    The exterior of the new EMA building in Moosic Friday, May 30, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

  • The exterior of the new EMA building in Moosic Friday,...

    The exterior of the new EMA building in Moosic Friday, May 30, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

  • EnergySmart employee Bill Yarbrough installs fiberglass in the new emergency...

    EnergySmart employee Bill Yarbrough installs fiberglass in the new emergency management facility in Moosic Friday, May 30, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

  • The interior of the new EMA building in Moosic Friday,...

    The interior of the new EMA building in Moosic Friday, May 30, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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The exterior of the new EMA building in Moosic Friday, May 30, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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The borough hired Milnes Engineering, Construction and Surveying of Tunkhannock as the general contractor, he said.

As of Friday, the shell of the building was completely up with ongoing work on the roof, Bennie said. Inside, everything has been studded and framed out, and the floors and concrete have all been poured, he said.

On Tuesday, officials with the borough, Fire Department and Police Department will gather to place items into the building’s cornerstone, Bennie said.

To pay for the new building, Moosic received grants, as well as making its own contributions. The project received $3 million in federal funding, $1 million in state funding, $300,000 from Lackawanna County and $300,000 from Geisinger, Bennie said. Moosic is also contributing $1.5 million, he said.

Bennie thanked former U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, state Sen. Marty Flynn, state Reps. Jim Haddock and Bridget Kosierowski, the Lackawanna County commissioners and Geisinger.

“The community and the elected officials and the different sources of revenue from the various government entities really have made this possible,” Bennie said. “Now, we see the fruits of those efforts come to bear, and we know that now Moosic borough is going to be served by this state-of-the-art facility.”

Centrally located in Moosic with both departments under one roof, the new building allows first responders to coordinate and arrive together when going to emergencies, he said.

Bennie couldn’t remember the last time police used a building designed to be a police station.

Going back to the 1970s, officers had worked out of Moosic’s old Borough Building, Bennie said. Then, about two decades ago, police moved into a donated veterinary office that was converted into a police station on River Street, but mold forced police out of that building in May 2022. The old police station was demolished, and Bennie said the borough has since been renting space above a body shop at 820 Springbrook Ave., costing $2,800 per month.

The new station will include two interview rooms, a professional evidence room, two holding cells and an armory for police to store their weapons and ammunition, Bennie said.

“It’s all the things that a police department should have, and we will have it,” he said.

Officers will also have their own workstations, which is a boost for morale, he said.

“Now they’ll have someplace they can truly call home,” Bennie said. “It’s a professional police station.”

For the Fire Department, Bennie said the building was designed with four drive-through bays, so firefighters can pull into the bays from Winfield Avenue and exit onto Birney Avenue. There will also be signs with flashing lights that activate when firefighters are leaving the station, he said.

With the current station, firefighters have to stop traffic on Birney Avenue to back in their apparatus.

“Because of the volume of traffic, not having to put someone out on Birney Avenue to stop traffic to get a piece of equipment backed in is a huge, huge safety improvement for the department,” Bennie said.

Larger door openings also mean the Fire Department won’t outgrow the new building, Bennie said. As of now, one of their vehicles is too large for the current station, requiring it to be filled with water to weigh down the suspension and lower the vehicle to fit, he said.

Fire Chief Chuck Molinaro echoed the mayor, saying the building gives them a central location for their police and fire departments. It gives firefighters additional space to store today’s much larger vehicles, with room for expansion as the community grows, Molinaro said, calling it an “absolute benefit to the community as a whole for both entities to provide more advanced services.”

He also believes it will benefit recruitment by generating interest from volunteers.

The Fire Department will begin packing up its current building in June to be ready to move when their space becomes available, Bennie said. The existing fire station will have to be demolished so the land can be graded and paved, he said.

Bennie hopes the new emergency services building means future generations of first responders won’t have to worry.

“The building has been built planning for decades ahead,” Bennie said. “I can’t wait for the ribbon cutting.”

Monday Update

THEN: Construction was ongoing in November on Moosic’s new emergency services building, with officials hoping to open the new building in early fall 2025.

NOW: The project is on-budget but was slightly delayed due to cold winter weather, pushing the opening to November.