PROVIDENCE — It’s a disgusting spectacle, and it happens every spring, firefighters say.    Thousands of winged termites swarm down from the attic of the city’s Hartford Avenue fire station, looking to get out.    “They climb down the wall and the rails of the ladder and make it to the floor. It’s like a river of termites,” said Rescue Lt. Anthony Toro.    “We open the door to the back deck area and they pop out and fly away. It’s as if they know where the exit is. It’s unbelievable.    “If we keep the door closed,” he said, “the whole building is swarmed” during the two- to four-day phenomenon.    There is no telling how   much hidden damage has been wreaked by the termite colony, in residence for at least five years. But some of the termite-ravaged wooden struts holding up the roof have snapped. Toro wonders aloud about the safety of the roof.    “The stations are in deplorable condition” and have been for decades due to city officials’ indifference, said Firefighter Paul A. Doughty, president of the firefighters’ union. “It’s demoralizing.”    Leaking roofs, rotted gutters, missing downspouts, crumbled brick and mortar, windows about to fall out, potholes in the driveways, flaking paint, cracked flooring and plumbing problems: The stale air of neglect hangs heavy where the fire-     fighters work and bunk.    A leak at the Admiral Street station has caused toxic black mold to grow, says Toro, the union’s health and safety advocate.    And worse, according to Doughty, the disrepair occasionally has interfered with Fire Department operations and caused injuries.    Despite a fiscal austerity program, however, city officials have mustered about $1.9 million from a bond issue for a fix-it campaign in the 14 stations. It is the first major renovation of stations in about 25 years, since the city had pitched roofs installed over some circa-1940s stations with leaking flat roofs.    In the latter half of 2011 a floor that threatened to collapse under the weight of the trucks at the Humboldt Avenue fire station was buttressed; the concrete driveways at the Humboldt Avenue and Broad Street stations were redone; the oil-fired boilers were replaced with more-efficient gas boilers or otherwise upgraded at the North Main Street, Admiral Street, Allens Avenue and Rochambeau Avenue stations; and exterior painting and gutter repair was done at the Mount Pleasant Avenue station. Overhead and side doors were fixed at some stations, too.      At the Humboldt Avenue station, a cinderblock wall was constructed for support in the basement and the basement was filled with 230 cubic yards of concrete.    On the spring to-do list, promised Alan R. Sepe, city acting director of public property, are new roofs for the Broad Street, Atwells Avenue, Admiral Street and Hart-ford Avenue stations. Masonry and window repairs are on tap for the Broad Street, Al-lens Avenue, Messer Street, Rochambeau Avenue and Hartford Avenue stations.    The city borrowed nearly $3.1 million, of which $1,889,000 is dedicated to fire station repairs and improvements, and more than $1.2 million was spent to buy two fire engines and a rescue truck. That leaves a balance of about $200,000 available for undetermined work.    There was a time, more than 20 years ago, when the Fire Department had its own building division. But that was gradually dismantled and the responsibilities shifted to Sepe’s department, and all that is left on staff is one carpenter.    “He can’t take on a roof job,” said acting Fire Chief   Michael J. Dillon. “He’s one guy who can do minor repairs.”    David Ortiz, spokesman for Mayor Angel Taveras, said, “Maintaining fire stations and all facilities is a priority … and we will do everything we can with the resources available … .”    A roof leak at the Broad Street station — it has been leaking for at least 20 years — has become an indelible anecdote in department lore. It has been dripping for so long that part of the building façade is disintegrating and stalactites of rust hang from the perimeter of a pipe where the water seeps through the ceiling of a first-floor bathroom.    To keep their heads dry, firefighters fashioned a trough from a blue plastic tarpaulin to carry the water from the roof into buckets.    About five years ago, Fire Lt. John Deady recalled, the late City Councilman Miguel Luna brought a birthday cake to the firefighters in mock celebration of the leak.    City officials’ inattention, Doughty said, led to a carbon monoxide scare three years ago at the Hartford Avenue   station when a clogged vent on a boiler caused deadly fumes to spread inside. The threat was discovered when a firefighter awoke in the middle of the night and tasted soot. As a result, carbon monoxide detectors were installed in all stations.    A fire broke out in an electrical box at the Admiral Street station a year or two ago, Doughty complained. In both the Hartford and Admiral situations, he said, trucks had to be relocated for a time, slowing emergency responses to the neighborhoods where they were posted.    Due to the disrepair, Doughty said, department personnel have suffered sprained ankles and other injuries. A defective stair tread that caused people to trip was the subject of complaints ignored for 10 years, he said, until a firefighter fell down those stairs and suffered an injury that caused him to retire with an accidental-disability pension.    “A $100 fix” that was undone has cost the city vastly more money as a result, according to Doughty.  

  THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / FRIEDA SQUIRES      Lt. Paul Picozzi, left, and Lt. Anthony Toro inspect a membrane that is leaking at the Atwells Avenue Providence Fire Station.

  A bucket catches rainwater at the Atwells Avenue Fire Station. It is slated to get a new roof this spring.

  THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / FRIEDA SQUIRES    Lt. Paul Picozzi looks at the damage in the captain’s office at the Atwells Avenue Providence Fire Station. The flat-roof membrane leaks.

  The leaking roof at the Atwells Avenue station has caused extensive damage inside the building.

     The City of Providence has aging real estate. The location of each station and when it was built or acquired:   

1903 136 Mount Pleasant Ave.

1905 155 Humboldt Ave.   

1928 270 Rochambeau Ave.   

1932 274 Reservoir Ave.   

1948-49 426 Admiral St.   

1948 489 Hartford Ave.   

1948 10 Branch Ave.   

1948 201 Messer St.   

1948 630 Atwells Ave.    1

948 776 Allens Ave.   

1950 223 Brook St.   

1951 151 N. Main St.   

1952 847 Broad St.   

2002 325 Washington St.  

gsmith@providencejournal.com   (401) 277-7334