He came, he saw, he gave a thumbs up...

NEWTON

An engineering inspector has examined cracks in the floor of Fire Station No. 7 and determined that it will bear the weight of a new 82,000-pound fire truck due to be housed there. And he did the old-fashioned way - by actually looking at it.

John M. Looney, president of Aberjona Engineering Inc., the company that examined the concrete slab floor, assured city officials in a letter dated March 31 that the cracks “affect the appearance only.” Looney recommended the “cracks be cleaned and sealed to prevent further water leaking into the slab.”

The city's aldermen had asked for the inspection after learning that a previous safety review of the floor had been completed without anyone actually visiting the station, which is located on Eliot Street in Newton Upper Falls.

-- Connie Paige