The county land on Mast Road appears to be the go-to place for government building these days.

The Goffstown District Court in a few months is moving out of the town hall and into the second floor of the Bouchard Building owned by Hillsborough County, next to the state prison for women and across from the Goffstown Police Department. Now, the Fire Department is thinking about building its new station on the county land.

On Monday, July 21, Fire Chief Rich O’Brien told the Board of Selectmen that architects designing a central fire station have identified the county land as one of the ideal locations. The area is around the state prison and Henry Bridge Road. The fire chief said the town has yet to approach the county about the possibility.

O’Brien said five properties in all have been listed as potential sites. Some are owned by the town and county. He told the board that the town needs to narrow down a site so the architect can finish the design of the station. Depending on the location, he said the department might need a one, two, or multi-story station.

Monday also marked the swearing in of an unprecedented number of new firefighters.

“This is a very exciting time for the Goffstown Fire Department. I don’t think the Fire Department has ever done something like this,” O’Brien said. “We have the opportunity to change the culture of our Fire Department in one hiring.”

The department gained five full-time and seven call firefighters. An eighth call member could not make the ceremony. The new call firefighters boost the size of that force to almost 60 people, and the full-time hires nearly double the number of regular-duty firefighters.

A new chaplain for the department was also sworn in. Three of the five full-timers filled vacancies. The other two are for new positions that are partially funded through a federal Homeland Security grant.

O’Brien said hiring people was one of the most important things he could do for the town as a fire chief.

“It’s so important for us to make sure that we have the right person doing the job,” he said. “We feel that we really hit a home run with this group.”

The ceremony occurred during a break in O’Brien’s quarterly report to the selectmen. As part of that report, he also proposed an ordinance with fines for homeowners, businesses and others who have false or nuisance alarms. A nuisance alarm is one that goes off because the system has malfunctioned. A false alarm is one that has been pulled maliciously or accidentally.

The Fire Department would have a 45-day grace period for people who have recently installed an alarm system. After that, it starts counting the unwarranted alarms. At the fourth alarm the fines kick in and increase with each additional incident in a 12-month period. For the fourth false alarm, the fine is $50. The fifth is $100. The fourth and fifth nuisance alarm fines would be less – $25 and $50, respectively.

The ordinance would hopefully cause some of the biggest offenders to address their alarm issues, O’Brien said.

One of those is Saint Anselm College, where the Fire Department responded to 237 alarms during the past school year.

Roughly a third of those were nuisance alarms, department records show. One dormitory, Hilary Hall, had 12 such alarms. Under the ordinance, the college would have been fined $675 for the incidents in that building.

Selectman Scott Gross wondered if the fines should be even higher.

“I’m not so sure that $675 is enough of a deterrent,” Gross said.

The board will have to hold a series of public hearings on the ordinance and a similar one being developed for the police.

Several selectmen have suggested that the two should be combined into one ordinance, to make them more understandable for the average homeowner.

On Monday, selectmen did approve the disposal of Ladder 6, an unused fire truck that O’Brien said has virtually no value to the Fire Department. The ladder truck does not have a fully functional ladder or pump.

O’Brien said a similar truck with similar specifications was being advertised for $50,000 on a resale Web site. But that truck had a working ladder and pump. It would cost about $50,000 to $60,000, the fire chief said, to bring the Goffstown fire truck up to that condition.

As a matter of policy, the town will first check with other communities in case they have a use for the truck. Then, the town will advertise that it is disposing of the truck. If there are still no takers, Town Administrator Sue Desruisseaux said the vehicle would be sold for scrap metal. O’Brien estimated that it would be worth about $5,000.