A 40-by-90-foot addition has been built onto the east side, creating new sleeping quarters and a physical fitness room.

“It doubles our square footage here,” Fire Chief Steve Hergenreter said.

Inside the original building, completed in 1966, construction crews have torn out the interior walls and are reconfiguring the space to create a new room for firefighter training and other amenities.

As the building project continues, the calls for help keep coming in. During 2019, the Fire Department responded to 5,563 emergencies. Many of them were medical emergencies. The Fire Department assumed full responsibility for ambulance service in 2018, taking over for UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Ember, the Fort Dodge Fire Department’s canine addition, gives one of the new ambulances her dalmation seal of approval after a pushing-in ceremony for the two rigs. Firefighter/paramedic Mychal Edler gave it his too.

And while the demand for emergency medical help keeps on growing, the department also continues to strive for excellence in putting out fires. Those efforts were recognized in 2019 when the Insurance Services Organization, a nationwide group, gave the department a prestigious Class 3 rating.

“That was a pretty big one for validating our training and equipment here,” Hergenreter said.

Building project

The firehouse renovation job was intended to address two issues. Failing plumbing was one of them. As the original plumbing aged, more and more problems occurred and some of them were impossible to fix because the pipes are encased in the block walls.

Setting up proper accommodations for a department that now has seven women in the ranks was the other issue. There were no female firefighters when the station was built. As originally built, it had an open bunk room with rows of beds and a single locker room.

The new addition includes 12 individual bedrooms, with one person per shift assigned to each room. Just outside each bedroom is a set of lockers where the personnel assigned to those rooms will keep their uniforms and other belongings.

The physical fitness room is a wide open area on the north side of the addition. Exercise machines will be moved into it when the project is done.

The plumbing and boiler were replaced.

The new training room will be created in what was the old bunk room. A couple of new bathrooms and showers will be created in the original building as well.

In February, the City Council hired Jensen Builders Ltd., of Fort Dodge, to do the work at a cost of $1,331,500.

Construction started May 1. The addition was completed by December. The work in the original building is expected to be done in May.

ISO rating

The Insurance Services Organization examines 46,045 fire departments across the country and rates them on a scale of one to 10, with one being perfect and 10 being the worst.

Fort Dodge for decades had a rating of Class 4.

As of February 2019, it has a rating of Class 3.

Just 3 percent of the fire departments in the nation have a better rating.

Such a high rating could lower insurance premiums in the city, especially for businesses.

When the new rating was announced, Mike Johnson, vice president of Calvert & Johnson Insurance Services Inc., in Fort Dodge, told The Messenger that is “pretty phenomenal” for a city the size of Fort Dodge to have a Class 3 rating.

He said the rating could drop some insurance premiums by 5 percent to 10 percent.

“The bigger thing is our Fire Department being recognized by the insurance industry as top notch,” Johnson said. “The byproduct is a possibility of a little bit better rate for homeowners and businesses.”

When making a rating decision, the ISO looks at a community’s fire department, water system and emergency dispatching. The fire department accounts for 50 percent of a community’s score, the water system accounts for 40 percent and the dispatching operation accounts for 10 percent.

Personnel changes

In January 2019, veteran firefighter Dennis Feldmann was named the city’s fire marshal and community risk reduction coordinator. He works with city building inspectors to ensure that all new construction and renovation projects comply with fire codes. He works with a fire protection engineer in the state Fire Marshal’s Office to make certain sprinkler and alarm systems are installed properly. He also inspects schools, day care facilities, nursing homes and all other health care sites.

Prior to Feldmann’s appointment, the city hadn’t had a fire marshal since 2015.

Also during 2019, Kyle Wenger was hired as a firefighter/paramedic, Shane McKim was hired as an emergency medical technician. Jordan Erie was hired as a paramedic, and Kole Kampen was hired as a firefighter/emergency medical technician.

And in a reorganization of the command structure, firefighters Nick Carlson, Nathan Conrad and Ben Waynar were promoted to lieutenant. Each of the three shifts now has a captain and two lieutenants.

Those captains and lieutenants use a 2020 Chevrolet Tahoe delivered in late 2019. The 2010 Ford Expedition once used by the shift commanders is now used by Emergency Medical Service Supervisor Terry Evans. The 2001 Dodge Durango formerly used by Evans will be disposed of.

Looking to the future

Completing the building project will be a major objective for the department this year.

Hergenreter said in the fall, planning will begin for another addition to the building. That one will be on the northwest side and will include offices and a conference room. Construction is expected to start in 2021.

The department will also be getting some new vehicles in the next year or two.

A new hazardous materials response truck is expected to be delivered in the spring. That rig will be a big box on wheels loaded with gear specially designed to handle chemical leaks and related emergencies. It will replace a 20-year-old truck now in use.

The hazardous materials truck is not owned by the city. It is owned by the Region V Hazardous Materials Response Commission, which includes representatives of Calhoun, Carroll, Greene, Hamilton, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Sac, Webster and Wright counties. Each of those counties contributes money to equip and operate the hazardous materials team, which consists of Fort Dodge firefighters.

Hergenreter also plans to ask the City Council to buy two new ambulances during the fiscal year that will begin July 1. One of them would replace a 2014 model now in use. The other would be an addition to the fleet, giving the department six ambulances.

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