State grant to finance firehouse construction

A $300,000 Community Development Block Grant will bring faster, more efficient fire protection to residents in northeastern Holt and southwestern Nodaway counties next year following completion of a new fire station in Maitland.

The tiny Holt County community on the west bank of the Nodaway River, which marks the county line, received the grant through the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Assistance in applying for the funds was provided by the Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments.

NWRCG Executive Director Tye Parsons said he believes state officials looked favorably on the application because the Maitland Volunteer Fire Protection District currently houses vehicles and equipment in three separate buildings due to space limitations.

Constructing a single firehouse on a large vacant lot at Elm and First streets, which was donated to the city by Fire Chief Bryan Markt, is an obvious way to improve response times, Parsons said, and should provide better protection for the approximately 200 residences, farms and businesses served by the all-volunteer department.

Markt said the district, which was formed in 2005, comprises about 27 square miles of Holt County and also serves adjoining portions of Nodaway County through mutual aid agreements.

The all-volunteer department has about 15 firefighters and, on average, responds to seven or eight alarms each year.

Markt said the grant application, which was submitted by the city on behalf of the district, emphasized that the new building is to be "a facility and not just a storage building."

Detailed plans will be drawn up over the winter, but preliminary specifications call for an 82-foot by 50-foot structure to be built on a concrete pad. The garage area will be accessible through four large overhead doors, one for each of the district's trucks. Other facilities will include office space and a training area/meeting room.

Currently the district keeps two of its trucks in the small fire station attached to the back of the Maitland City Hall. In addition, a brush truck used primarily for field and woodland blazes, is kept in the city's maintenance garage across the street. The fourth vehicle, a pumper trick, is stored in another metal building just up the street.

Getting all the vehicles and gear under one roof should allow for significant improvement in the district's firefighting capabilities and overall readiness, Markt said.

"It's going to enable us to be a lot more organized and have better training," he said. "It's just going to clean things up."