It could be a while before Bow firefighters can move out of their dilapidated fire station on Knox Road.

Until then, they’re sleeping in a camper outside.

At least for the next month, that is. Many firefighters grew concerned about exposure to asbestos as crews continue for the next four or five weeks to remove the cancer-causing substance from tile floors in portions of the building, which is also home to the town’s Parks and Recreation Department.

Some firefighters say they’re concerned about possible exposure to asbestos over the past seven years when the tile floors slowly began to crack. There is also asbestos in the walls of the 56-year-old building, which was converted from a sawmill into a fire station, but as long as they don’t crack, the firefighters have little to no asbestos exposure.

Firefighters typically work 24-hour shifts. Because the sleeping quarters are located on the other side of a wall from where the asbestos is being removed, one firefighter donated a camper so the men and women could sleep outside but remain close enough to the fire house in time to respond to calls.

The situation isn’t much better at the police station, either, according to Town Administrator James Pitts. The station, which shares space with the Department of Public Works, and was originally the home of a private trucking company before being converted into a police station, doesn’t even have a jail cell. Prisoners are shackled to a long bench, he said. It also lacks a “sally port,” which is a garage where prisoners are taken out of police cruisers that nearly all police stations have. This is why the town needs a brand new public safety facility, Pitts said.

“Bringing the facilities up to speed (by making renovations) still doesn’t solve the design problems since they were not originally laid out to be public safety buildings,” he said. “They were built to serve other purposes.”

Pitts said the town has spent about $32,000 over the past three years on two separate evaluations on how to build the new police and fire stations.

He said a one-time cost of building a combined public safety facility, which would combine the police and fire departments under one roof on a town-owned property across from the current fire station on Knox Road, would be between $2.8 million and $3.1 million.

Right now, it’s costing the town $2.2 million to make repairs to the current fire and police stations, according to Pitts, who said the fire station is costing more but didn’t have an exact figure.

Pitts cited the slow economy and tight municipal budget as to why the town keeps putting off construction of a new public safety facility. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that federal stimulus package money might help.

“The budget is quite lean,” he said. “We applied but we have no way of knowing if we will get anything.”

Pitts said the shrunken budget has already led to closing a transfer station, shutting off certain street lights and reducing staff at the Parks and Recreation Department, which has relocated its offices to the basement of town hall while its home at the fire station undergoes asbestos treatment.

As the town has increased in population over the past three decades, so have calls for help to the Fire Department.

The department said it responded to 1,220 calls for service in 2008 and only responded to 72 calls for the entire year of 1972.

Common calls are for assistance with motor vehicle accidents, especially on interstates 93 and 89, and medical aid calls, particularly to recently built elderly living facilities.