New station: Grant County Fire District 10 station has room to expand

ROYAL CITY — Grant County Fire District 10 Commissioner Dwight Vander Vorste said the district’s new $2 million fire station was a pretty good deal.

The fire district outgrew its facility on Camelia Street in Royal City, he said, which was even before its merger with Grant County Fire District 11. So, commissioners and fire district officials went looking for a new location.

District commissioners and officials found office space in a repurposed building, with room to house a portion of the district’s equipment, working with the Port of Royal Slope. The new equipment facility also has a maintenance shop, which the old facility lacked.

The facility at 4975 Road 13.5 NE is a work in progress, Fire District 10 Chief Eric Linn said, even though the fire district moved into its new location in July 2020.

Commissioners thought about staying in downtown Royal City, but that would’ve required demolishing the existing building.

“If we had built in town, that facility would’ve cost us at least $5 million,” Vander Vorste said. “And we got into this for $2 million.”

In addition, Linn said a fire station isn’t always the most popular neighbor. It’s a 24-hour operation.

“We have people coming and going, we have lights, we have sirens,” Linn said.

“And we know how to use them,” Vander Vorste said.

District patrons have supported the fire district, Vander Vorste said, so fire district commissioners and officials wanted to return the favor by using the money they received wisely.

Commissioners sold the building in town, and put the proceeds toward the purchase, Vander Vorste said. Combined with some district reserves, fire district officials paid $1 million of the cost, Linn said, and received a low-interest loan from the state for the rest.

The building that houses the fire district office was once a convenience store, then a bank, then offices for the Port of Royal Slope. As the Royal City area and the fire district is growing, the fire department will have to grow too, Linn said, and the building has room to expand. The equipment facility is about 12,000 square feet, Linn said. He and a commissioner helped work on the design for the 32 pieces of fire and EMS apparatus, Linn said, three of which are ambulances.

A fire district officer is on call 24 hours, and remodeling is underway in the building’s upstairs to provide a place for firefighters to stay on site. Linn said there should be room for three people to stay at the fire hall by the end of the summer.

The new equipment building has something the old building in town didn’t – space dedicated to maintenance and repair. There’s even room in the shop for two trucks.

“You know how often you have to change the oil on your car. Well, we have 32 pieces of equipment. So we’re constantly running things through here,” Linn said.

And there’s room to grow.

“In the event that we need to expand, we can go out one more bay,” Linn said. “We hope we never have to do that, but at least we have the option. This entire facility is designed for growth.”

“I think without exception we’re very, very proud of this facility,” Vander Vorste said. “And we saved a ton of money.”

The expanded GCFD 10 is a pretty big district at about 530 square miles, Linn said.

“We go from the Adams County line to the Vantage Bridge, from the top of Frenchman Hills to Road 4,” Linn said.

“We’ve labeled everything Royal Slope Fire Rescue and EMS,” Vander Vorste added.

The expanded district has six stations, with four full-time firefighters. Most of the district’s firefighters and EMTs are volunteers.

“We’re blessed to have some amazing volunteers who are spread out as much as our territory. I have farmers that will shut a tractor off to run to a fire or to a medical call,” Linn said.

Currently, the district has 45 active firefighters, 18 of whom are also EMTs, Linn said. Unlike a lot of other departments staffed mostly by volunteers, GCFD 10 is growing. Linn has been chief for five years, and there were 26 active firefighters in 2015.

“We have volunteers, some of which have been with the agency for 30 years,” Linn said.

It can be, and is, demanding. When a firefighter leaves to answer a fire or ambulance call, the work will still be waiting when he or she returns, Linn said. The district responded to 422 calls for service in 2020, including both fire and medical, he added.

“These folks are amazing,” he said. “They sacrifice financially, obviously emotionally, family time.”

The appeal, he said, is the chance to help someone in need.

“Most of my people tell me that (the appeal) is neighbors helping neighbors,” Linn said. “That’s what everyone here is interested in doing. I think there’s nothing more rewarding, to me, than when we have an emergency in our community, and we all rise up to fix the problem.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.