Pittsfield Fire Station Back In Service After Month-Long Shutdown

Good news for the West Side. The City of Pittsfield announced that the West Housatonic Street Fire Station has officially reopened as of Tuesday, April 14, after being temporarily shut down for about a month due to elevated radon levels inside the building.

The station was closed on March 17 after testing detected radon levels that were too high to safely occupy the building. Remediation efforts are now complete, levels have returned to normal, and Engine 1 personnel are back responding to calls for service from the station.

While the station was closed, Engine 1 was being housed and dispatched from headquarters on Columbus Ave.

So what exactly is radon? It's a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that forms naturally from the breakdown of uranium in soil and rock. You can't see it, you can't smell it, and you'd never know it was there without testing. It seeps up through the ground and into buildings through cracks in foundations and floors.

Radon particles lodge in the lining of the lungs, where they give off radiation that can damage lung cells and lead to lung cancer. It's the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States.

To fix it, crews typically seal cracks and openings in the foundation, then install a ventilation system. A fan continuously pulls radon-laden air from the soil beneath the building and vents it outdoors through a pipe that runs above the roofline, preventing it from building up inside.

The good news is that remediation works, and Pittsfield didn't cut corners. The station was kept closed until levels were confirmed back to normal.