Charlo community pitches in for new fire hall
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CHARLO — The Charlo-Moiese Volunteer Fire Department is in no mood to play with fire.
In fact, the department plans to continue keeping fires under control with the convenience of a single new fire hall. The new structure will replace three smaller fire halls and will lessen the department’s response time by a minute. The Charlo-Moiese Fire Department’s district is 25 square miles, which extends from half of a mile from U.S. Highway 93, south to Dublin Gulch and west to Moiese.
Presently, the 22-member fire department keep their six trucks in three different locations. When a fire alarm sounds in the streets of Charlo, the firefighters have to coordinate with Charlo Fire Chief Mark Young to determine who goes to which location.
But after a decade of saving and fundraising, the current multi-facility fire department will become a problem of the past.
Last week the fire department broke ground with a $252,951 project, constructing a new 70 by 100-foot fire hall half of a mile south of Charlo. The new location will provide a centralized fire hall for the firefighters to utilize. The fire hall will include eight truck bays, an office area and a meeting room in the middle of the single-story structure.
“My goal is to get every rig that we own under one roof,” Charlo-Moiese Fire Chief Mark Young said.
Fire board chairman Shane Reum has been instrumental in organizing and fundraising for the new building.
“It’s been a work in progress,” Reum said.
Young added that the progression has been met with some obstacles and described the progress as “a few steps forward and a few steps back.”
The fire department originally applied for a federal grant, hoping to snatch some of the stimulus money benefiting various communities across the nation.
But the small community of Charlo didn’t qualify for the federal grant, which was designed to benefit larger communities.
With the legal advice of lawyer, Rich Gebhardt, the department decided to take out a $200,000 loan from Community Bank and use $52,951 saved from previous fundraisers and tax revenue throughout the years to help finance the project.
The fire department was adamantly against raising Charlo’s taxes and worked diligently to find money elsewhere.
“We are very pleased that we didn’t raise taxes,” Reum said. “It wasn’t even an option for the department to do that.”
One of the main fundraisers for the Charlo Fire Department is the annual Spaghetti Feed and auction.
On Saturday, 300 people poured into Charlo School to show their support for the fire department, enjoy a meal with friends and families, and maybe make a bid or two at the live and silent auctions.
After orchestrating the event, Reum served as the live auctioneer. He warmly expressed his gratitude to the community for their continued assistance.
“We had great support from the community,” Reum said. “We were supported with the donations to the auctions and the people auctioning.”
Young also expressed his gratitude for the community’s ongoing support through uncertain economic times.
“It definitely was shocking for us,” Young said. “We didn’t think we would do as well because of the economic situation.”
But the Charlo community came through for the fire department at the spaghetti feed. The $10,500 earned at the event will be used to buy the necessary equipment within the fire hall and fund some building expenses.
“(The community) has been very generous and we feel very fortunate to have their support,” Young said.
Spaghetti Feed raffle winners include:
Rifle: Brad Dodgson
Barbecue grill: Wanda Salomon
Half of a pig: Dale Young
King size quilt: Gene Erb
Queen size quilt: Jim Bradenburg
