HUDSON, MASS. (WHDH) - Hudson Fire Chief Bryan Johannes said the cost of repairs will be significant after a lightning strike damaged one of the Hudson Fire Department’s fire stations over the weekend.
The strike happened during a thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon. The fire department’s station at 1 Washington Street is now closed, as a result, and crews are instead responding out of the department’s headquarters on Cox Street in down.
“It’s going to be a challenging couple of weeks,” Johannes said of the road ahead.
The town of Hudson was incorporated back in the 1860s. The 1 Washington Street fire station was then built in the 1890s. Well over 100 years later, this weekend’s lightning hit the structure’s historic bell tower, damaging computers, the phone system and the building’s fire alarm system, according to Johannes.
“Those shingles disintegrated and shards were thrown all over the place,” Johannes said.
The hole left behind by the lightning strike was still visible in the fire station’s bell tower on Wednesday. Other damage was also visible down part of the bell tower, where Johannes said he believed the lightning traveled.
Officials said between 65% and 70% of the call volume for the Hudson Fire Department comes out of the 1 Washington Street fire station, which is situated close to residential and commercial buildings in the area.
“It’s a very historic building to the town of Hudson,” Johannes said. “It’s critical to our responses here in the town of Hudson.”
Even before all repairs are made, Johannes said some crews may be able to work at the station during the day.
For the time being, though, operations are continuing at the department headquarters.
“It’s sized appropriately for all the fire apparatus here in the town of Hudson,” Johannes said. “But, essentially, what happens is we have a slight delay in our response to this area of town.”
There was no word as of Wednesday on when the fire station will be back to full operations.
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