WESTFIELD — Firefighters, many of them new hires who have never been in a real fire, will train over the next month or so at the old Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament rectory, 6 Union St., before it’s demolished to make way for a police station.
The city bought the mansion last year with plans to demolish and build the new police station at Elm and Union streets. The Colonial revival home was built for industrialist Dr. James B. Atwater in 1897 and had been used as a church rectory since the 1920s. It’s been vacant for about 20 years.
The City Council voted earlier this month to spend $243,000 on the demolition work.
Until then, it provides a great opportunity for firefighters to get used to the darkness and smoke they might someday encounter, said fire Capt. Chris Brown.
“This is gold for us,” he said. “We jump on these opportunities.”
This is nondestructive training with simulated smoke. Firefighters drill on how to place trucks and lift ladders, how to enter through a window, search a smoke-filled room for a person in distress and bring that person out through the same window that the firefighters entered.
Firefighters used thermal imaging cameras in their search.
Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament opened the doors of its former parish rectory to 350 visitors for an open house on July 20 and 21. (AMY PORTER / THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
Many of the 350 visitors to the open house had never been inside the Parish Rectory. (AMY PORTER / THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
Father Dan Pacholek, here with parishioner LInda Check greeted visitors, many of whom he had never met. (AMY PORTER / THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
The suspended staircase in the Parish Rectory is unique. (AMY PORTER / THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
Leaded glass panes were among the striking details in the Parish Rectory. (AMY PORTER / THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
Ken Stomski of Westfield Community Television, here with Tina Quinones, was among the photographers and videographers documenting the features of the historic house. (AMY PORTER / THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
Antiques and marble fireplaces were on view at the open house. (AMY PORTER / THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
About 350 visitors flocked to Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament’s open house for its former Parish Rectory at 6 Union St. on July 20 and 21. (AMY PORTER / THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
Andrew Fondakowski of Northside Creamery helped the parish count the number of visitors to the open house on July 20 and 21. (AMY PORTER / THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
Abatement contractors already have cut holes in floors and walls, however.
And the city plans to salvage woodwork, marble fireplaces, a Mayflower plaque related to the Atwater family’s pilgrim ancestors, and a stained-glass window.
The training, which began last week, garnered some attention from passersby who thought it was a real fire.
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