Volunteers serving the Dodgingtown Fire Company are not only concerned about Newtown residents they are charged with protecting, as taxpayers themselves, they are always looking for ways to pinch pennies. As a result, the fire company, tucked into a mid-1950s-era building on Dodgingtown Road, has just completed the latest phase of energy improvements to help save taxpayer dollars.

According to Dodgingtown’s Green Committee Chairman Kirk Blanchard, following a successful and economically advantageous changeover from an oil- to gas-fired boiler, Chief Steve Murphy charged the committee with upgrading electrical lighting fixtures and bulbs to achieve even more energy savings.

The result was a successful partnership with Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) and an approved application to the utility’s Small Business Energy Advantage Program.

“Over the years, we’ve tried to do a lot to reduce energy costs — and from an environmental standpoint, to reduce our carbon footprint,” Mr Blanchard told The Newtown Bee during a recent visit to the fire station.

“We recently replaced a 20-year-old oil-fired boiler with a contemporary gas-fired model, which is much cleaner, much less costly to maintain, and it’s saving taxpayers a ton of money in fuel costs,” he said.

Even the newest addition to the fire station, which previously had energy efficient T8 bulbs in its fixtures, qualified for new LED fixtures. And since these bulbs burn virtually 24 hours a day, even that small changeover is producing added savings.

Mr Blanchard explained that the CL&P program is funded by incremental fees from utility ratepayers across the state. While the total bill for the lighting and bulb changeovers was $9,289, $3,555 was automatically rebated.

The remaining $5,734 was financed over 32 months at zero interest by the utility, but Mr Blanchard said the anticipated $222 in monthly savings more than covers the $179 monthly payment.

“So we were saving taxpayers some money from day one,” he said. “Once the loan is paid off, all those savings will accrue back to the taxpayers, who cover the energy costs for our local fire stations. So we’re using less power, the taxpayers are saving money, and it’s so much brighter now inside and outside now that we have these fixtures.”

While there are no current plans to make further energy upgrades, Mr Blanchard said all members of the company supported the efforts. Even YankeeGas assisted by installing a new gas line from the street to the fire station’s new boiler at no charge.

Among the latest upgrades are:

*Occupancy/motion sensors in apparatus bays that only activate lights when a person is in the room;

*Four emergency exit lights changed from 30 watt to 2 watt bulbs;

*Five metal halide 400 watt exterior fixtures changed to 137 watt LED flood lights;

*Ballasts and bulbs in banquet room and throughout the facility changed from T12 to T8 bulbs; and 

*Several smaller exterior floodlights changed from 100 watt incandescent to 18 watt LED bulbs.