As the possibility of a Hackett Hill prison continues to be discussed, any plan for a new Hackett Hill fire station has been "conspicuous by its absence", despite the obvious need for such a facility.

It is quite possible that the extent of the residential development north/northwest of The Manchester Cedar Swamp Preserve is not familiar to many residents of Manchester. An image obtained via Google Earth can be used to provide this information.

The Google Earth image shows the location of the various development projects located adjacent to Countryside Boulevard and its extension. The various apartment, housing and condo complexes present a very striking appearance. As noted on the image, there has been a recent resumption of development in one location. It involves an extension of "The Neighbors at Woodland Pond" project which was begun in 2006 . At that time, much concern was expressed about the displacement of a valuable animal corridor in this region.

The image also shows that despite the enormous opportunities for profit made by developing other parts of the area, it was nevertheless considered acceptable for development of single family homes on "Lot 17" of the Woodland Pond housing complex to extend south of Countryside Boulevard directly into the watershed area of the TNC-owned swamps - a project undertaken in 2005.

Details of these two projects can be found by returning to the home page of this website and clicking on the link for Archives A, Part 1.

The Google Earth image also shows the location of the two PSNH power lines that pass through this area, the JPSA building and a portion of the access road to the Danais-owned property, including the phantom parking lots. It should be noted that a prison constructed on this property is nowhere near any of residential areas near Countryside Boulevard.

Importantly, practically the only entrance/exit from the vast residential development projects is at the junction of Countryside Boulevard and Hackett Hill Road.

As can be seem in the Google Earth image, a single engine fire station is located not far from this point, but the adequacy of this station to deal with a large scale emergency situation is questionable.