A local fire station is looking to expand 11,000 sq. ft. onto their facility. The current space is too small lacking adequate training and work space, and has limited storage. The expansion could be completed by November 2017, but that decision is up to the voters in Orange City, Iowa.
A vote will take place on March 1 to decide whether a $2.7 million bond should be issued to pay for a portion of an estimated $3.5 million dollar expansion on the current fire station.
Firefighters have less than 60 seconds to put all their gear on before going out on a call, and with the limited space between the gear and the truck, Bruxvoort says it's making that task difficult, and is creating safety hazards.
"Where our bunker gear is placed right now it's a close proximity to moving trucks, and then when the trucks are running, the diesel smoke is blowing on the gear," says Bruxvoort.
Bruxvoort says the issue stems from the growing city.
He says the current building was built in the early 1970's, and since then the population has increased from 3,500 people to 6,000 people.
Making the number of calls coming in and the number of volunteer members increase as well.
"So along with the volume of everything else growing and city growing, then the fire department needs to keep up and we need to have more space too," says Bruxvoort.