Seventy Years, Uncoupled: Inside Lebanon's New Central Fire Station
When the Lebanon Fire Department opened the doors at 12 South Park Street on March 3, 2026, they didn't cut a ribbon. They uncoupled a hose. In the fire service, that gesture marks readiness — the moment a station officially goes into service.
Ready.
I was lucky enough to photograph the new station for Lavallee Brensinger Architects, and the story behind it is one I think every architecture firm's marketing team will recognize: a good-looking building is easy. A building that means something takes real work to show.
The old station was built in 1954. Back then, Lebanon was a volunteer department answering fewer than 100 calls a year. By 2024, the same crew was handling more than 4,000. The 1954 building was never designed for that load — or for what we now know about firefighter health. Carcinogens on gear were tracked straight into the living quarters. There was no separate decontamination zone. It wasn't ADA compliant. By every modern standard, the station was failing the people it housed.
Unacceptable.
LBPA's response, built by ReArch Company, is a 24,531-square-foot, three-story facility designed around firefighter wellness. Gear gets its own isolated room, off the living quarters. Diesel exhaust is captured right at the tailpipe the moment engines fire up. The apparatus bay is flooded with natural light under red-painted steel trusses. The kitchen and day room feel like a home because they are one — crews live here for 24-hour shifts. And the building runs at an energy-use intensity less than half the national average, with a solar array partly funded by a $107,000 state grant.
It's not just a firehouse. It's a 70-year correction.
I'll be heading back in June to photograph the exteriors and — fingers crossed — a live training session, so keep an eye out for round two.
Here's the thing about a project like this: the story is already inside the walls. But telling it — to a marketing director, to a design-awards jury, to a city weighing the next bond vote — takes images that actually see it. A quick phone snap of a red truck doesn't explain why that yellow exhaust hose matters, or why the gear room sits just off the bays, or why the kitchen feels like home.
That's the part I love. Architects spend years solving problems nobody sees. My job is to make those problems — and your solutions — impossible to miss.
Working on a project that deserves more than a snapshot? Let's talk.
Location: 12 South Park Street, Lebanon, NH 03766 — City of Lebanon Project Page
Architect:Lavallee Brensinger Architects (LBPA) — LinkedIn | Facebook
Builder:ReArch Company — Project Case Study | LinkedIn | Facebook
Others associated with this project:
Owner: City of Lebanon, NH
Fire Chief James Wheatley
Mayor Tim McNamara
John Adams III, LEED AP — Senior Project Designer, LBPA
Christina Mellor, IIDA, NCIDQ, LEED AP — Director of Interior Design, LBPA
Allison Wilber — Marketing / Business Development Coordinator, LBPA
