The Mount Vernon Volunteer Fire Department will be breaking ground on a new fire station in early October, MitchellRepublic.com reported.
According to a fire official, the new building, estimated to cost $750,000, is a long time coming, the report said.
After a decade and a half of collecting taxes, donations and throwing fundraiser after fundraiser, exciting new things are planned for the Mount Vernon Volunteer Fire Department, the report said.
The 24-person crew of volunteer firefighters has spent its funding on necessary equipment like bunker gear, lockers and, recently, scrounging up funding for the lifesaving “jaws of life” saw, used to pry victims of car crashes from out of their vehicles, according to the report.
Even fire trucks have been adapted from regular trucks into fire trucks, with huge metal water tanks fused onto them. Some trucks even turn multi-purposed in the winter, when volunteers load medical supplies into them due to the fire station’s close proximity to Interstate 90 and the amount of crashes that occur, the report said.
Years of patience and hard work have paid off for the crew, however, and the new station is set to break ground in early October and will feature the original, red welded-metal sign and large garage doors on the corner for easy access, the report said.