Weston EMS Cuts Ribbon On New Headquarters

WESTON, CT — The town's emergency medical services crews can stop sleeping in their cars.

Weston Volunteer EMS had the grand opening of the Daniel Offutt III Weston EMS HeadquartersWednesday night. It's a 1,200 square foot addition to Firehouse 1 at 56 Norfield Road, and its already being staffed 24/7. The new facility provides sleeping quarters for EMS crews and dedicated space for administration, meetings, and training.

"I started this process with the town over ten years ago," Weston EMS President, Jon Weingarten, said. Back then, and pretty much until a year and a half ago when ground was broken on the extension, "all we had was one desk in the office."

But unforeseen holdups attributed to weather, COVID-19 and "various construction delays" kept Weingarten from scheduling a grand opening before Wednesday.

In the decade prior to setting shovel to dirt, wrangling the funding for the $1 million dollar project was the biggest speed bump. Electing to build an extension at Firehouse 1, rather than a whole new facility, made for both a less expensive and more effective HQ.

"If EMS had been forced to build a standalone facility, it would have required twice as much space, more money, and would involve relocating its ambulances off the main town campus," Weingarten said.

In 2018, Weston EMS received a commitment of $500,000 from the estate trust of Daniel Offutt III, to expand the firehouse and build EMS quarters, a town-owned property. The trust previously helped Weston EMS purchase a new ambulance. The Town of Weston kicked in $250,000, and the EMS crew was able to raise another $250,000 through its own drives.

Weston Volunteer EMS was recently tapped by the Westport Weston Health District to administer the coronavirus vaccine to the home bound.

"Obviously it's very time-consuming to go from one house to the other, but it's been very effective," Weingarten said.

Weston EMS is an all-volunteer service. It operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, receives no taxpayer dollars, survives on donations, and is one of only two in Connecticut that serves residents for free.