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Rhodes Fire Station almost a reality

Contributed photos — Rhodes new fire station was built in the summer of 2019, but stills need interior work before firefighters can move in.

Rhodes will soon have a new fire station and with it a safer community.

The Community Foundation of Marshall County awarded the city a grant of $5,000 to put toward a new fire station, which has been in the works since 2018.

“The old fire station was running out of space,” said Michael Overman, Rhodes Fire Chief.

In 2018 a family offered to help the city create a new fire station.

The Community Foundation Grant wanted to help provide electrical work.

The new bay area of the Rhodes Fire Station which will be able house all their fire vehicles.

“We had a nice family in the area that was willing to donate the building as long we raised funds for any of the interior work and site work,” Jessica Armstrong, Rhodes City Council member. “We still need donations. We’re still making progress. We’ve had a lot of help from local trades people and people in the community who have donated their time and money.”

Rhodes residents have come to help hang drywall and a variety of other construction tasks to turn the fire station into a reality.

“For several years we’ve tried to get something going, but unfortunately we’ve never had enough funding or interest,” Armstrong said.

The family worked with Morton Buildings to construct the building as a fire station.

In the spring the city sent a mailing to residents looking for donations with a goal of $180,000.

The interior of the new Rhodes Fire Station which is still being worked on. Ideally the station will house firefighters this coming summer.

“We were able to raise at first $60,000 pretty quickly,” Armstrong said. “We were able to get the groundwork started.”

The new fire station was built in the summer of 2019 but additional work is needed on the inside to make it usable by the volunteer firefighters.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Overman said. “The reason the fire trucks are not there is because we don’t have the water pipe station to fill the trucks up, and quite honestly we don’t have a working toilet right now.”

Once some of the minor and major repairs are finished the new fire station will be opened up. Overman expects it to be finished this summer.

“We may not have the meeting rooms set like we want it to, but we’ll be in the new fire station by the middle of summer,” he said.

Getting a new fire station is important because with only two vehicle bays fire trucks were virtually stacked inside.

“When we have a fire call you have to pull one vehicle out of the way,” Overman said. “We didn’t have room to move and get ready.”

The new fire station will make the city of Rhodes a safer place.

“It’s going to have faster call times and we’re going to have better training,” Overman said. “It’s a beautiful building right on Main Street.”

The station is almost finished, but more donations are needed before the building can be completed.

“Every little bit helps,” Armstrong said.

Overman was extremely thankful for all of the assistance from his firefighters and the volunteers from the community at large, he said. There were electricians and craftsmen that contributed their time and energy.

“It’s a beautiful building for Rhodes to have on its Main Street,” Overman said.

TO MAKE A DONATION:

Donations can be sent to P.O. Box 97 Rhodes, IA 50234.

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Contact Thomas Nelson at (641)753-6611 or tnelson@timesrepublican.com

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