The all-volunteer Bullville Fire Company will hold an open house at its new five-bay firehouse on Saturday, July 20.

Chief William Bacon said everyone’s welcome to come tour the building at 2891 Route 17K between the hours of 1 and 3 p.m., meet the firefighters and even take home an application to become a member of the company.

The company is proud to show off its new home and explain how it will benefit the community, Bacon said. The building went up in two phases: first the five-bay garage for the fire apparatus and equipment, followed by the social hall. At 12,800 square feet, the firehouse is more than double the size of the old one.

Bacon said the state-of-the-art firehouse also can’t hurt when it comes to attracting new members. He said the company is a little bit short of help right now – membership tends to be cyclical – and always accepts applications.

The Bullville company has had good luck recruiting high school and college age trainees, and keeping them for three, four, maybe five years, Bacon said. But the high cost of living in the district, the lure of bigger paid departments or career choices that require relocation drain the ranks.

The new firehouse was built by the Bullville Fire District, which has the power to raise money through taxes. It also owns the fire trucks and all the other firefighting equipment. The district covers some 12.5 square miles at the southern end of the Town of Crawford.

The Bullville Fire Company, whose members fight the fires, built the original firehouse, parts of which date to the 1970s. It still owns the land the new firehouse sits on. Under the new arrangement, the company leases the property to the district for 50 years at $10,000 a year. At the time the deal was struck, Bruce Guttenplan, chairman of the district’s board of commissioners, called it a bargain. One reason for that is because the lease doesn’t include a fraction of the property that sports a cell tower, a significant source of income for the company.

This week, Guttenplan said the building isn’t quite finished. The district has a construction punch list of smaller tasks that must be completed before the whole project is wrapped up.

He did say that the firehouse, originally projected to cost $5.2 million, is coming in a bit under budget.

The firehouse is part of a general revitalization of the hamlet of Bullville. New owners are refurbishing and expanding the Stonehenge Farm Market and an ATV dealership will set up shop on property vacated long ago by the Thompson Ridge Nursery. The town has a state grant to improve the landscaping and lighting around the hamlet’s Five Corners intersection, where zoning changes were recently enacted to spur development.

Bacon said the official dedication of the firehouse is scheduled for May 3, 2025, the 50th anniversary of the Bullville Fire Company going into service.