On the north side of the building toward the back is a much smaller door with a special purpose. It is the opening to the first Safe Haven Baby Box ever installed in Iowa.

The Safe Haven Baby Box allows a parent who feels they cannot properly care for their baby to give it up for adoption with no questions asked.

All that parent has to do is open the door built into the wall of the firehouse and place the infant into a bassinet. After they close the door, an alarm will go off to notify the firefighters that there is a baby there. The baby will be taken to UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center.

The state Department of Health and Human Services will take custody of the child and begin the process of getting it adopted.

-Messenger file photo by Kelby Wingert
Monica Kelsey, founder of the Safe Haven Baby Box, removes a bassinet holding an infant mannequin during a demonstration of the new Baby Box located on the north side of the Fort Dodge Fire Department on Oct. 12, 2023.

“That was a big project,” Fire Chief Steve Hergenreter said of the Baby Box.

“A lot of people were involved in that to make it happen and get it installed,” he said.

The effort started with Fort Dodge City Councilwoman Lydia Schuur and Ashley Vaala, a former Fort Dodge resident who started The Lotus Project, a shelter for women. Other key players in the effort were Randy Kuhlman, chief executive officer of the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way; Assistant City Manager Ryan Maehl and Hergenreter.

State law had to be changed to make the box legal. Iowa law previously allowed parents to surrender their babies, but they had to actually hand the child to someone at a hospital, other health care facility or fire station.

State Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, and state Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, led the successful effort to change Iowa code, making the Baby Box legal.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
The Fort Dodge Fire Station, located at Central Avenue and 15th Street, has a new look, with more windows built into the new front overhead doors.

A fundraising effort led by the Fort Dodge Community Foundation secured $40,000 in about three weeks to pay for it.

Three Fort Dodge companies — Jensen Builders Ltd., Baker Electric and Iowa Fire Control — volunteered their services to install it.

The Baby Box is incorporated into the exterior wall of a relatively new addition to the firehouse. It was added during a 2019-2020 project that essentially gutted and rebuilt the original 1966 interior of the building. Individual bedrooms were created for the on-duty firefighters and a large new fitness room was built.

In 2022, another major construction project commenced at the firehouse. This one created a 30-by-60-foot addition to the front of the building that is marked with “FDFD” in big red letters.

Inside that addition is a public lobby, an administrative assistant’s area, three offices and a conference room.

As part of the project, the facade on the 15th Street side was removed and the garage doors were replaced.

Hergenreter said some more work on the building is also planned for this year.

The roof on the original part of the building will be replaced, he said. The current roof was put on 26 years ago.

During 2023, Fire Department upgrades were not limited to the building.

Early in the year, the department took delivery of a new pumper truck. Made by Pierce Manufacturing, of Appleton, Wisconsin, it can pump 1,750 gallons of water a minute. It also has a 500-gallon water tank to put out small fires and start the attack on larger ones until a hydrant connection can be made.

It replaced a 2011 model, which was acquired by the Callender Fire Department.

This year, the department received a Ram pickup to replace a 2005 Ford.

A new ambulance will be delivered this year to replace a 2014 model. Also, the body of an older ambulance will be mounted on a new chassis to create an essentially new ambulance at a lower cost.