Wellesley Select Board receives fire station master plan recommending new Weston Road headquarters

WELLESLEY -- June 2, 2026, Wellesley fire master plan calls for new Weston Road headquarters and renovated Station 2. Fire Chief Rick DeLorie and Context Architecture's Jeff Shaw told the Select Board on June 2 that Station 1 is roughly 100 years old, that both existing stations contain only 50 to 60 percent of needed space, and that contaminated gear stored on apparatus floors is contributing to firefighter cancer cases. "Just last week alone I had to place two firefighters, one active and one recently retired, on disability pension under the cancer presumption law of Massachusetts," DeLorie said. The plan proposes a roughly 26,000-square-foot headquarters on the North 40, a renovation and small addition to Station 2 as a substation, and a future 9,200-square-foot Station 3 in eastern Wellesley triggered by a three percent decline in response time from a 2025 baseline. The board is targeting the November Special Town Meeting for feasibility funding. The board also approved extended hours for Shake Shack at 74 Central Street and appointed Brett Estwanick to the Municipal Light Board and Thomas Gomatt to the new Town-Wide Capital Planning Committee.