Demolition of the Ainsworth Fire Station began Monday morning. Removing the aging station will make way for a new $470,000 facility. Ainsworth Fire Chief Waylon Schultz tells KCII that the current fire station had run its course, “Our old building was kind of a safety concern. Our equipment has outgrown it so with everything parked inside it was tight. We had firefighters getting dressed between trucks. …Our building would flood when it rained really hard. …The building was past its life expectancy.”

Construction on the new building is set to begin as soon as possible, with concrete work completed before cold weather arrives. In the meantime, the Ainsworth Fire Department will operate out of the Washington County Conservation maintenance building one mile outside of town.