$1.1M in grant funding helps Nev. FDs build new fire stations

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By Lydia Snow
Elko Daily Free Press

ELKO COUNTY, Nev. — Community development money from Elko County is funding new fire station buildings in the rural areas of Osino and Deeth.

Built from a grant model, the Ryndon Station 127 volunteer firehouse in Osino is “about 75% complete,” Ryndon Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Cody Allen said.

“We had $1.1 million in grant funds available to us. So we split it down the middle,” with the Ryndon VFD receiving about half and the Deeth VFD getting the other half, he said.

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“We have seen no opposition from the community members of Osino on our location or purpose. We rezoned, picked our contractors and got to work,” he said.

“We’re an all-risk volunteer fire department. So, we run medical calls. We run community assist, lost children, lift assists. We help with, say, hospice care, if they need help getting somebody moved in and around the house. We have EMTs and paramedics on our service as well. So we run everything from a sick kid to a major traumatic injury to car wrecks,” Allen said.

“The majority of our calls, though, are generally medical calls and then wildland fire. Our jurisdiction runs from city limits out to the River Ranch exit at mile marker 328 and then that’s where the fire department picks up. They run from there to Wells.” The Ryndon VFD covers many parts of Elko’s outskirts, including Interstate 80 and the railways, he said.

Allen said construction on the new building is going smoothly.

“There were some engineering obstacles we had to work our way through early in the process, with us being the first firehouse being built off his grant and not really having a true understanding of what the county was going to require as part of the special use permit,” he said.

“Theoretically, it’s a commercial building — but it’s an unoccupied commercial building in a residential area to serve public needs, so there’s a lot of gray area on code and different things like that. But I think we’ve worked all the kinks out.”

Deeth Station 33

The Ryndon fire station is the first to be built on the grant. Deeth VFD Chief Dale Lotspeich explained how his station, the second one under the grant, will be a boon for the department.
“Our current fire station is in the floodplain. During high-water years, the Marys River floods Deeth and our station is flooded. They’ve tried building a berm around it and trying to do everything they could to try and mitigate the water flow,” he explained.

“Our station’s been flooded, out of the last 20 years, at least a dozen times,” Lotspeich noted. It originated as a Nevada Department of Wildlife maintenance station built in the 1940s. Since the building was used for little other than storing vehicles, it didn’t contain any protective features like insulation.

“The building is really inefficient,” Lotspeich said. “It’s in massive disrepair, just from a standpoint of loose siding and boards that are rotting and that sort of thing. So it’s time for a new station.”

But, as is often the case, money was an obstacle.

“When the county took over, funding was an issue. So, this last year, when they came up with the funding, they prioritized the Deeth station and the Osino station and asked us to apply for the grant, which we did. We were granted, and we were able to find a contractor who could build it within the confines of the budget,” Lotspeich said.

“The decision was made to move with the Osino station first, since they were in the process of purchasing a plot of land and all they had to do was close on it,” he explained.

On the other hand, Lotspeich and his wife, Leslie Lotspeich of Lotspeich Family Farms , donated the property in Deeth . “It has to go through a zoning change from agricultural to commercial for the fire station to be on it. So that took a little bit longer,” he said.

“They’re just now starting the dirt work, waiting for the final parcel process. Then, they’ll start building,” he said of Deeth Station 33.

Lotspeich shared some ways the new fire station will improve on the resources of the old one. Because of the old building’s susceptibility to flooding, the firefighters are unable to store their gear and instead have to carry it with them. The new building will have plenty of room for the firefighters to gear up.
“The other thing is, we never had a training area. We could always use the community hall, but, you know, you have to go set it up and take it down — and if it’s wintertime, turn up the heat.” Now, they will have a reliable training area to call home, Lotspeich said.

Also, the building will be insulated, meaning the firefighters no longer have to worry about letting warm air out the door or their trucks freezing.

“The old station did what it was intended to do, which was store the trucks and keep the equipment available, but it basically outlived its usefulness,” he explained.

Also, Lotspeich said, “since it’s being built by the local fire department, we can use it as a community center. One thing that the community hall lacks is indoor bathrooms.”

“This will allow community groups like the Soil Conservation District and the local youth programs to use a meeting place with actual regular bathroom and water facilities.”

Ideally, the community center will draw more interest in the fire department, he said. “Right now, we have six folks who act as volunteer firefighters, me being one of them. It would be nice to get more people involved.”

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