Residents driving along Route 25A in Setauket are discovering firehouse construction has unearthed something huge.
In the last few weeks, a large rock has been the focal point of a soon-to-be landscaped corner on the northwest portion of the Setauket Fire Department’s Route 25A property. David Sterne, district manager of the Setauket Fire District, said the rock was visible on the property in the past, and there is a more massive rock that workers couldn’t dig out. Sterne said no one has measured the unearthed rock yet.
“It was always a fixture near the rear entrance of the firehouse, but it wasn’t until this project that we were able to fully dig it up and realize how big it was.”
— David Sterne
“To me, the most interesting part is that for years and years only about the top quarter of the rock was what was visible out of the ground,” he said. “It was always a fixture near the rear entrance of the firehouse, but it wasn’t until this project that we were able to fully dig it up and realize how big it was.”
State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), who has a master’s degree in geology, said the rock is called glacial erratic, which is a piece of bedrock that has been transported from a site other than where it has been discovered. Glacial erratics found in the area such as Patriots Rock on Main Street in Setauket most likely originated in the Long Island Sound. He said the firehouse rock’s structure suggests that it is a metamorphosis sediment, and it can be anywhere between 500 million and a billion years old.
“It’s quite possible that this was originally a sedimentary rock with layers that has been buried very deeply in the earth, possibly in the base of an ancient mountain chain now eroded away,” he said, adding the lines suggest that when it was at the base of the mountain chain it was most likely subjected to great weight that pushed it down to the mantle of the earth, which caused mineral deformation and reformation of the rock.
“To have it associated with our fire department, with its strength and resilience, and it being one of our oldest institutions in the community and position of strength and endurance, I think the symbolism is very positive, very strong,” he said.
Sterne said the firehouse plans to add benches near the rock for residents to enjoy the garden or to sit and view parades.
When it comes to the construction of the new firehouse, the fire district manager said many residents have commented that the house seems larger than what they anticipated, but he added the building design hasn’t changed since a $14.9 million bond was approved in April 2014.
Along Route 25A, the actual footprint is only 6 feet wider than the original firehouse. Sterne said it may appear larger due to the truck room on the east side now having two stories in both the front and back. In the original building, there was only one story closer to the street and a second story toward the back. This new two-story structure includes offices, meeting and training rooms, and Sterne said the meeting room will be available for community use.
A new apparatus bay on Old Town Road was completed in February 2018, and the structure is connected to the original firehouse on Route 25A. Trucks now exit and enter on the Old Town Road side instead of Route 25A. After work on the bay was completed, construction began on the 25A side. Sterne said the facade of the western portion of the Main Street building, the original 1935 structure, is the same.
While the hopes were that the firehouse would open in November of 2018, Sterne said it now should be ready for a soft opening by mid-February and, when the warmer weather arrives, the fire department plans to host a ribbon-cutting and community ceremony.
