Ground has been broken for a much-needed building in the Town of Newton.
A ceremony to begin construction of a new fire station took place earlier today (November 1st) with firefighters, community members, and donors.
The current Town of Newton fire station is too small to store all the equipment and fire trucks needed by the department, with some stored off-site at the town’s public works building.
Firefighters also don’t have proper ventilation or showers to help them after a fire call.
Newton Board Chair Denise Thomas tells Seehafernews.com that’s why a new town fire station is a must.
Like storing trucks, you’ve got a foot and a half between the wall (and the truck), she explained. “Their meeting room is very limited to get people in there to accommodate their meetings and training. So they have a very difficult time with training.”
Newton Firefighter Garrett Braun says the department formed a committee about two and a half years ago before going to the town board to ask for a feasibility study.
The committee also brought in Keller Inc. to create designs for a new station to show the town board.
The town board then asked for a referendum to secure the community’s support for borrowing $7 million for the new building.
Braun says the committee first requested adding an addition to their current station; however, it wouldn’t have made a difference.
Our biggest thing in the project was, if we’re going to do something, we have to be responsible to the citizens of the Town of Newton,” he noted. “And if we’re going to do this, we don’t want to come back in five years and say now we need more, because they have the right to tell you no.”
The land for the new fire station, which is being built across from the old station, was donated by the Grotegut family, and Town Clerk Alyssa Grotegut says that, with her father previously volunteering for the department, it’s amazing to see what’s being done for the firefighters now.
“This is a very exciting moment for us to be able to give something he would be so proud of and wouldn’t even question doing it if he was still here,” she exclaimed. “So, just for that, we want to say thank you for all you guys do.”
Assistant Fire Chief Nick Smith says this new station will not only help with the lack of space but will also help the firefighters themselves.
“I just think that we’re going to have, the camaraderie is going to be better in the new station then it is here,” he described. “There we have more room to hang out. Guys come up and just hang out and do stuff . We got a couple of spots you can sit behind one of the trucks now, and that’s all we have. We don’t have a whole lot of space to even just go up and hang out or do stuff that we normally, regularly do.”
The town is also asking residents to help build the new building with a dollar-for-dollar match up to $250,000 from the Kruidenier Charitable Foundation through December 31st.
Town Chair Thomas says they want to be aggressive with the station.
They expect to start construction soon and have the building up within the following year.
The old fire station will then become the new home of the town’s public works department.
Town leaders also gave a huge thanks to Newton residents for allowing the project to be completed for the firefighters.
