Years of hard work and fundraising are about to pay off, with the construction of the new fire hall for the rural municipality of Moose Mountain and the town of Carlyle.
Fire Chief Don VanMeer said construction is slated to start next week. The company that is to build the new fire hall has been given the green light to proceed, and the lot where it is to be built is being cleared.
The building is located on Eighth Street in Carlyle, next to the water treatment plant, and is a block away from the current fire hall.
“The hall that we are presently in is just undersized for our equipment, and we don’t have a proper meeting room in it, either,” said VanMeer.
The fire department has to juggle which equipment it has stored inside, and which is kept outdoors.
“Our skidoo trailer and skidoo comes in during the winter so that it’s ready and our wildland fire equipment gets put outside, for example,” he said.
Once the new fire hall is constructed, they will have sufficient space throughout the year for all of their firefighting and rescue apparatus.
“Right now … sometimes it’s only three feet between the units (the fire trucks), so it’s a real safety issue when units are pulling out on a fire call,” said VanMeer. “This is going to help with a lot more space between units.”
The fire department would have adequate meeting room and washroom facilities, along with a kitchen if its members respond to a longer call.
“When we come in from a call, we’ll have somewhere we can pull something together, and lots of our spouses like to help, so they’ll come down and help to prepare meals for people that are out on long calls,” said VanMeer. “If we’re actively going at night, we’ll have a place to come back in and do that stuff, where we didn’t have that before.”
VanMeer said construction was supposed to start this week, but with all of the rain, it has been pushed back. It’s not known how long it will take to finish the building, but he hopes it can be completed late in 2020 or early in 2021.
The Carlyle Fire Department has 22 paid, on-call firefighters on its current duty roster, but about 15 of them are active. The firefighters come from Carlyle, Arcola and Manor, along with the RM of Moose Mountain.
The firefighters are “pretty well overwhelmed” knowing that construction is about to begin on a building they have needed for a long time, the fire chief said. The department has spent years fundraising for the new building. People in the community have patiently stood beside the fire department throughout this process, and have shown how much they want to see the town get a new fire station.
“This has been a project that has been in the works for about 10 years, and they have continued to donate every year and help build the funds, so that we can make this happen,” he said.
An annual golf tournament has raised aobut $100,000 to help pay for the building.
“There has been a lot of meetings over the years. We did try to figure out building onto the old hall, and updating it, and then it was decided to go with a newer and a bigger building. There’s been lots of meetings. The meetings have gone on for years too, with the fire board, the RM and the town council.”
Deputy Fire Chief Rob Klassen said they’re excited that this project is coming to fruition.
Once the new hall is constructed, VanMeer is hopeful the fire department will be able to attract a few more members as well.
