New Sharon Eyes Fire Station Expansion

New Sharon Fire Department (file photo)

New Sharon, Iowa – The roles that firefighters play in our communities continues to grow, and with that, the amount of equipment and space needed for training continues to grow as well.

New Sharon Mayor Dustin Hite said that the City of New Sharon is now looking at expanding the current fire station to facilitate all the roles a modern fire department has, compared to approximately 20 years ago when the current facility was built. In that time, the building has already been added on to previously, because of the growing role fire fighters have.

“We are currently out of space,” says Hite. “What we are looking at doing is adding an addition on the east side to free up a little more space.”

Hite said that the acquisition of equipment for the county-wide HAZMAT program, which includes a trailer for that equipment, will be stored at the fire station. Another recent piece of equipment to find its way to the fire station in New Sharon is a boat and motor that belongs to the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Posse. The importance of having a boat available became apparent after last spring’s flooding, which impacted the New Sharon area.

“We have more vehicles than we have bays, that’s what necessitates the addition to the fire station,” said Hite.

Beyond more requirements, Hite says, “I think they [fire fighters] face new challenges…. There’s just more things they have to deal with.”

The city has started to advertise the project to contractors.

For the residents of New Sharon, they can learn more about the addition to the fire station at the next city council meeting that is scheduled for the third Wednesday of May, on the 21st.