The Ainsworth Fire Department is looking to build a new fire station. The current building was designed to be a gas station and tire repair shop in 1973. Ainsworth Fire Chief Waylon Schultz says the department has expanded and outgrown the facility. In addition to housing all the equipment and vehicles that come with the job, the building also serves the community as a polling place and as an emergency shelter during power outages.

Schultz says the extra space could make an impact on the day-to-day operations of the fire department, “We’d have more room for training in there, it’s easier to get the tools and things out to work with when we have meeting nights and things like that. When it’s cold outside, like it has been the last month or so, there’s a lot of times we don’t’ want to pull the trucks outside and get the stuff out because it’s cold and it takes so long for the heater to warm the building back up. Having that extra space inside where we can use the stuff inside all the time. And if it’s bad weather or things like that, it doesn’t prevent us from being able to work with our stuff and train with it like we need to.”

In addition to the size restraints the current fire station is deteriorating. According to Schultz the poles have begun to rot in the ground which provides a risk for the building to collapse during a storm. The fire department is looking to build the new location in the same place as the current. Schultz the construction would take around three months and that the current estimates have the new facility costing around $500,000. They are hosting a breakfast fundraiser February 24th at the fire station from 8 a.m. until noon. Online donations can also be made at AinsworthFireStation.com.