BILL GAITHER/The Register-MailThe public can get an inside look at the new Oneida-Wataga Fire Protection District station during an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The facility includes a community room that can be rented for receptions and meetings.
Wataga gains fire station, more
New facility has community room, plenty of storage
Monday, April 24, 2006
WATAGA - The new beige and green building on Willard Street, near the railroad tracks, is an impressive addition to this Knox County village. Inside, the new Oneida-Wataga Fire Protection District station is a big step up for the community and its volunteer firefighters.Area residents who want to see the inside of the new building will have the chance during an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The flagpole in front, donated by the family of Art Kremer, will be dedicated to the late firefighter at about 2:15 p.m. Lacky and Sons Monuments of Galesburg donated the stone at the base of the flagpole.
One asset is the slightly more than 2,400-square-foot community room. Trustee Sam McKie said the room can be rented for $35 per day - with a refundable deposit - the same price charged by the nearby Sparta Town Hall.
The community room has 12 tables, 125 to 130 chairs and a fully-equipped kitchen. There also is a portable island work area.
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The new vehicle bay has room for six fire trucks. Firefighter gear and other small equipment is stored in an area on the east side of the bay. |
In addition, there is a VCR for firefighters to view training films or for use at parties and other events. Lynn Dredge, the wife of Terry Dredge of Wataga, is in charge of rental of the building, McKie said.
The almost 3,800-square-foot apparatus bay dwarfs the old station on Main Street, which was built in 1947. Two pumper trucks, a brush truck and a 2,000-gallon pumper are stored inside. One of the pumper trucks has a deck gun that had to be removed to store the truck in the old station. The new station has three, 14-foot overhead doors, which will accommodate the truck without taking off the deck gun.
McKie said there is room for six trucks in the new apparatus bay, compared to four at the former station.
"I would say this is probably a third bigger," McKie estimated, comparing the new station to the old. The apparatus bay also includes a portable rack for the firefighters' turnout gear - helmets, jackets, etc. It is heated by banks of radiant heating units on three sides.
The $357,000 wood-frame building was constructed by Johnson and Johnson Builders of Woodhull. Construction began in July 2005 and most work was finished about Feb. 1.
McKie said the combination fire station and community hall originally was also supposed to include Sparta Township and the village of Wataga, but those two entities decided not to take part in the construction and housing offices there.
The lot the station is built on was owned by the village. The old station was traded for the lot, with no money involved. McKie said the village will use the old building for its maintenance garage for the water works.
The new building also has men's and women's restrooms, both of which have showers. There is a dispatch room/office, a large storage area and a computer room/office for the Altona-Oneida-Wataga Ambulance Service. There also is a washer and dryer in the air-conditioned building.
Other features include a portable generator and generators on some of the trucks, which McKie said would be enough to have lights, heat, operate the overhead doors and power some equipment in the community room in the event of a power failure.
"If the school needs to be evacuated, this is the building they'll come to," he said of Wataga's ROWVA West Grade School.
McKie also mused that since the building has so much more space than the Municipal Building, the Wataga Village Board could consider meeting in the community room if there is an item of substantial interest to the community.
"We worked a long time to design this," McKie said, pride apparent in his voice.
Oneida-Wataga Fire Protection District
Chief: Jim Ryder
Trustees: Sam McKie, Jim Asplund, Dick Swanson
Members: About 12
Coverage area: About 82 square miles, from almost to Henderson, to just outside East Galesburg, to near Victoria and Altona
The District has mutual aid agreement with surrounding departments.
