A project now underway will solve that problem.

An addition to the current structure will enable the volunteer firefighters to easily house the trucks, create space to house a Calhoun County Emergency Medical Service ambulance and still provide room for some indoor training.

Fire Chief John Colshan said the addition nearly triples the size of the building.

Manson Mayor Dave Anderson said the project has been in the works for 12 years.

“We needed room for a long time,” he said.

The shell of the new addition is up, concrete has been poured and the overhead doors have been installed.

Doyle Construction, of Fort Dodge, was the general contractor for the first phase of construction. Anderson said the company had a $295,872 contract.

Colshan said the second phase of construction will include putting in insulation, plus heating and electrical systems.

The current fire station was built in about 1975, according to Colshan. It has four truck bays, which house five trucks.

Colshan said today’s fire trucks are 32 to 36 feet long.

“We just ran out of room,” he said.

When the new addition is completed, each truck will have its own garage bay.

One of the bays in the new building will house an ambulance. Colshan said Calhoun County Emergency Medical Service keeps an ambulance in Manson from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. He said it usually sits outside the fire station and the crew uses the Fire Department’s meeting room inside.

Colshan said the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency will keep a trailer loaded with disaster response supplies in the addition.

Even with vehicles and trailers in the building, there will be space for indoor training, according to Colshan. He mentioned two specific kinds of training: practicing going in and out of an upper story window in full firefighter gear, and vehicle extrication, which is the process of prying apart wrecked vehicles to free trapped people.

The fire station at Twin Lakes, which is jointly operated by the Manson and Rockwell City fire departments, will remain open after the new addition is in use.