Newburgh Car Dealership Welcomes the Fire Department

A great offer from a local car dealership has been accepted by a local fire department.

Barton Chevrolet Cadillac is saving taxpayers in Newburgh, about $100,000 by letting the Good Will Fire Department move in to the car dealership for a year while the department's station house is being rebuilt.

Ron Barton, who owns the dealership told Fire Apparatus Magazine that all he wants in return is that the firefighters try not to scare his service technicians and customers when an emergency call comes in, he said, "They usually get out of my parking lot before they start hitting the sirens."

The way all of this is possible is that the 44,000-square-foot car dealership underwent renovations over the summer and when Barton heard that the nearby Good Will Fire Department was searching for temporary quarters, he stepped in.

Because of the changes to his building, Barton realized that he had a long corridor with a high ceiling and big overhead doors on both ends that was now available, and had no immediate plans to reuse it. So he offered it up to the fire department.

Good Will Fire Chief Ray VanInwegen said "We tried some other places to see if they would let us use their facility, but Mr. Barton offered it up to us to use free of charge until we have a new firehouse, he's been very nice. He just said, use my building as long as you need it."