The Butler Township Fire Department is thriving, and recently put up a new building to replace its aging fire station in Knoke.

It’s a big step up, according to Fire Chief Randy Neeman.

“It’s 60-by-60, which gives us lots of room,” Neeman said. “Now we can do training in here, that we never used to be able to do inside.”

The old station barely left any room to walk between the trucks, Neeman said.

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter
Fire Chief Randy Neeman explains how, to save money, the firefighters framed up and built the bathrooms themselves in the new Knoke fire station. The broom closet at left already has brooms, but doesn’t yet have its walls or a door completed.

“You waited till summer, and would do training outside,” he said. “There wasn’t much you could do in the wintertime, because there was just enough room to walk between the trucks, and a little space behind them for a table and chairs, and that’s all we had.”

The building took a few years of looking ahead.

“It’s really been in progress for three or four years, probably,” he said. “The trustees for the township have been putting some money away every year, for whatever reason — if we need to upgrade a truck, or something like that.”

The department received some grant money in 2018, he said, and the project was able to advance.

A $20,900 grant was given by Grow Greene County, which gives out money from the casino in Jefferson, Neeman said. The firefighters also got an $8,000 grant from Farm Credit Services of America, a $70,000 interest-free loan from Calhoun County Rural Electrical Cooperative, and various donations from other sources.

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter
The new Butler Township Fire Station in Knoke was finished in September 2018, and features more room for training and fundraisers.

“We have to thank our community. They help us out greatly,” Neeman said. “Without that we probably wouldn’t be having a building.”

The project cost about $133,000, Neeman said, with the building by Next Generation Buildings, and work done by West Central Construction, and Wernimont Electric.

The old building was torn down in the first part of June 2018, so the new one could be built in the same place.

The new fire station was complete enough to push the trucks in September, he said, although there was still some electrical and heating work to finish then.

While construction was ongoing, the trucks were parked inside thanks to NEW Co-op, which provided a space.

“NEW Co-op let us put them in the building they have uptown,” Neeman said. “It’s used for grain storage in the winter, but in summer it’s empty.”

And it’s not 100 percent complete now — the firefighters are still constructing a broom closet, and finishing work on the bathrooms.

For a fire department, raising funds is never done.

“We are planning to get what they call a brush truck. That’s a four wheel drive pickup that you can get out quicker into grass and cornfield fires,” he said.

The new station has a third door for that truck to park behind, when it does arrive. The old station had only two, and was built for smaller vehicles.

“They still had one original truck when I come on, and that was a small truck compared to these,” said Neeman, who joined the department about 30 years ago.

With the new building, the annual nut fry and pork loin supper can be held inside, Neeman said. The event features “Rocky Mountain Oysters” along with other more traditional meats, in the last Friday in August.

It’s a struggle in such a small town. Knoke had a population of 21 back in 2001.

“It was never incorporated. It used to have a post office,” he said. “We have the elevator, and Lynch Livestock buying station here. We’ve got a couple things going for the town yet.”

The new station was built on top of where the old one was — and still uses the same cistern, in a place with no town water system.

“We have a 10,000 gallon cistern underneath the floor, that collects rainwater,” Neeman said. “It’s not a city, there’s no city water. Everybody has their own well.”

Instead of pumping from a well, the fire station pipes rainwater from the roof into the cistern.

The department is full right now; it can take 16 firefighters, and it currently has 16 firefighters.

“We have a lot of younger firemen members that are real enthusiastic about being on, and keeping it going,” he said. “Anymore that’s hard to find. In Calhoun County, right now, for manpower we’re probably one of the strongest ones in the county. Probably not the strongest, but we’re up there.”