KEENE, NH – The Town of New Boston, New Hampshire is receiving federal support to build a new fire station.

In a news release Friday Senator Jeanne Shaheen announced that the department is being awarded $9,285,576 in federal funding through the Department of Defense’s Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP) for the project.

The release says the funding will provide the town with a modern fire station that will support fire, emergency, and HAZMAT services for both the community, and the New Boston Space Force Station.

In July Shaheen penned a letter to the Director of the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation advocating for New Boston to get the federal aid.

“It’s crucial for our firefighters to have modern, reliable facilities so they can quickly respond to an emergency and save lives,” Shaheen said in the release. “This project demonstrates the value of the Defense Community Infrastructure Program in enhancing the safety and wellbeing of the communities that support our critical defense installations.”

According to the town’s website, the fire department has also been running a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for the new fire station since 2021. It says that the current station was built in 1973 when the town had about 1,600 residents and nine firefighters who responded to 15 or so calls each year.

The campaign says the department has outgrown its current facility, saying it’s too small, has structural issues, and doesn’t provide showers to prevent firefighters from bringing carcinogens and other harmful materials into their own homes. At the time the campaign was set up, NBFD had 50 volunteer EMT’s and firefighters, one of the largest memberships of any rural fire departments in New Hampshire.

According to a news release from NBFD, the funding is one of 17 grants under the program, totaling approximately $100 million total.

“Executing the mission during an emergency is only possible if our service members and civilians can get to their base,” said Brendan Owens, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment. “Since 2020, DCIP has leveraged partnerships at the local level to build a ‘one community’ approach to delivering infrastructure that enables the Department of Defense to execute its mission, supports our service members, their families, and civilians, and improves the resilience of the communities that our installations rely on.”

The New Boston selectboard will hold a public hearing Monday evening, September 25th at 5:30 and are expected to formally accept the grant.