The Munson Fire Department hosted their public opening on Saturday, September 8 after waiting months to move into their brand new fire hall.
Despite the hall being finished on May 22, the Munson department had to relinquish possession after only three days, when the Starland County offices went up in flames on May 25, to make temporary room for the office staff who were displaced.
Now back in full possession of their new hall, the village’s fire department members were happy to return to enjoy the luxury of the new building.
“It’s more than we could ever have dreamed,” said fire chief Steve Wannstrom at the event. “It’s pretty spectacular.”
The new hall has three bays as well as a training room space and a truck water fill station. The building will also double as an Emergency Operations Centre in the case of a local emergency, as it now has a backup generator in the event of an power outage.
Wannstrom said the new building makes the department, consisting of volunteers, important because “it makes it somewhere they want to be” and helps retain staff.
The project was funded by both Starland County and funds from the provincial Municipal Sustainability Initiative grant, totalling about $2.7 million.