New fire bldg. for Fullerton

FULLERTON, Neb. — With eight fire and rescue vehicles crammed into a 60-foot-by-60-foot area, getting vehicles and people in and out of the fire hall can be one of the more difficult tasks that the Fullerton Volunteer Fire Department deals with.

“You almost hate to pull them out because you hate to go through everything to put it back,” said Fire Chief Mitch Lane of the trucks’ regular cleaning and maintenance.

That’s why the fire department has been looking for more than a decade to build a new fire hall. And after years of being held up by a lack of appropriate property, the project has finally received the go-ahead.

The Fullerton City Council voted last week to move forward with the process of planning and building a new fire hall at a site just off Highway 14 on Highway 22 on the town’s west side.

Lane said the department’s vehicles have steadily been getting larger each time they’ve been replaced, and the current fire hall doesn’t have enough bays for its main pumpers and truckers.

That makes it difficult to maneuver the trucks in and out of the fire hall, especially when 20 to 25 firefighters are rushing to change into their gear during a call, Lane said.

“We have a hard time getting the (vehicle) doors open, let alone getting to specific tools or doing maintenance,” Lane said.

The lack of space has long been a problem for the department.

The Rural Fire Board found a property this summer it felt would work, buying the Highway 22 land for about $10,000, said Leonard Plumbtree, treasurer of the Fire Board.

The department wanted a property as close as possible to the town’s two highways to speed reaction times, since many calls are outside of town.

Plumbtree and City Administrator James Kramer said that at a town hall meeting Tuesday, most of the public sentiment was in favor of a new building, although a few residents near the new site questioned its location on a residential street.

Lane said the current location is far from ideal itself, being on a residential street and just a block from the town’s school building.

Kramer said the city agreed this week to look at other locations, though he expressed doubt that any other available and workable spots could be found.

The building’s cost will be split by the Fire Board and City Council. The building’s estimated size is about 80 feet by 100 feet, he said.

Plumbtree said his goal has been to build the new fire hall for $200,000, though Kramer said he expects the project to exceed that cost after concrete and other supplementary work is finished.

Plumbtree said he would like to begin construction work on the new building this fall but acknowledged that it may be spring before it’s started. Kramer said the work isn’t likely to begin until next spring.

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