<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=28q1yG_0wPwtoyD00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=28q1yG_0wPwtoyD00" width="1910" height="858" ><figcaption>The Hospers EMS Fundraising Committee is working to fundraise $2.8 million to construct a new emergency services facility. Renderings of the building include seven truck bays, a gear decontamination room, a meeting room, a display area, an office; and a kitchenette. Photo submitted</figcaption></figure>HOSPERS—Emergency medical services and fire personnel are asking for community support to build up the Hospers Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services Department.The Hospers EMS Fundraising Committee announced in May its goal to construct a new facility for the community’s first responders costing $2.8 million. The committee has raised $1,277,600 as of Tuesday, Oct. 22.“It’s been an ongoing conversation for 10-12 years,” said fundraising committee chair Mandy Boersma. “We got more involved in the last five years talking about it because of the space constrictions they have in their current facility.”The emergency building is located at 304 Main St. and was constructed in 1968 as the original Hospers Community Center. The facility was modified in 1992 to house emergency vehicles but is increasingly losing its fitness to serve residents in the 21st century.Hospers emergency crews have 30 volunteers combined, with several people who are both firefighters and medical responders. The emergency building can only hold 18 people, which hinders the 24 hours of training firefighters complete annually, 36 hours of training EMTs must complete biennially and 48 hours that paramedics complete biennially.“The impact on the community is hopefully better if we can provide better services for our community and be able to do our training needs and hopefully help us in different aspects that way too,” said ambulance director Larry Gloden. “Our training needs are kind of cramped in the old space. Our old building is outdated, and it’s just not feasible anymore.”Gloden has served with the ambulance about 25 years, the fire department for 30, and as EMS director for the last 10.Jason Overmohle has been the Hospers fire chief since 2016. Gloden and Overmohle share a building for all volunteers, five fire trucks and one ambulance.An antique fire truck the city owns is “sitting in dust” in a city garage with no room in the emergency services’ building to display it, Overmohle added to the list of facility challenges.“There’s one side that doesn’t even have floor drains. So, if we come back after responding in the winter and snow, we have to come back after the stuff drips off and mop it and make sure everything is good,” he said. “The door height really limits what kind of trucks we can get. Generally, we’re buying used trucks, and it’s hard to find engines especially that will fit indoors. We can’t even pop open the cabs of our engines to do service work inside, because there’s just not enough height in there.”Due to the risks associated with smoke exposure, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires firefighters to undergo decontamination on themselves and their gear after each fire call. Ambulance personnel also must properly sanitize the ambulance after each patient to ensure the safety of the next one. The current facility is not large enough to accommodate sanitizing and cleaning of hoses, trucks and other large equipment and must be done outside — even in the winter. Furthermore, there is currently only one floor drain to catch snow melt and decontamination liquids, nor does the building have an exhaust system for vehicle emissions.While emergency responders play the role of helping others in danger, Overmohle and Gloden directors reiterated it is essential EMS volunteers can return from emergencies to a safe environment.Every year the laws and regulations get stricter, budgets get tighter and federal requirements continue to strain the teams.<img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=02XAoP_0wPwtoyD00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=02XAoP_0wPwtoyD00" width="1763" height="1175" >Since Hospers emergency departments are all volunteers, OSHA changes are not as relevant to the department as to other all-paid departments. However, Gloden and Boersma said if the committee manages to raise the funds, the new emergency facility will fulfill many of the possible requirement changes anyway — and hopefully do so for a long time.“We have a lot of dedicated volunteers; it’s for them. It will make our lives easier,” Overmohle said. “The way we’re trying to build this is for the future, not just being shortsighted. We want to do the things now and put the work in, so hopefully it makes it easier on the future generations.”One long-term impact Overmohle said the proposed Hospers facility would tackle is combating cancer rates among firefighters.Firefighters have a 9 percent greater risk of developing cancer than the general population due to more regular exposure to burning chemicals and debris, according to OSHA.“Just in general in the fire service, cancer has gotten to be a really big deal,” Overmohle said. “The new facility will have a separate gear room with an air exchanger in it. So, it’ll keep the more volatile stuff contained.“Along with that separate gear room, there’ll be a separate washroom that will house gear-washing-extractor washing machines and stuff like that. So after every call, we can come back, get our gear in the washing machines and have a spare set that can be ready to go in the gear room.”Preliminary drawings of the Hospers EMS facility include a 1,248-square-foot wash bay for vehicles, a 841-square-foot gear room and 580-square-foot wash area. The building will be almost 13,000 square feet total, including seven truck bays with one drive-thru bay; a gear decontamination room; a meeting room to accommodate up to 40 people; a display area to highlight one of Hospers’ first fire trucks; restrooms; an office; and a kitchenette.“The biggest things will be space and training opportunities, and ventilation and washing our fire gear,” Gloden said. “We don’t have room to wash fire gear now, and it’s just updating to the new standards.”“Indoor wintertime training opportunities are limited for us right now because we have no room. Our fire trucks are full of water, so we can’t pull them outside and do training because they’ll freeze.”Aspects like washing the vehicles and trucks indoors, hosting training sessions and getting dressed in fire equipment are some of the necessities Boersma said the new building renderings accommodate. Should the Summit Carbon Solutions carbon-capture pipeline be approved through the area, that would introduce a whole new set of mandatory trainings for volunteers to need space for.Nearing halfway to the committee’s goal for building cost, Boersma said the community will host many more fundraising events for people areawide to support volunteers in Hospers emergency services.“We’re just hoping that the community can come together and support our volunteers that work so hard each and every day for us,” she said. “They don’t have to do what they do. We’re just hoping they come and support them and give back to them.”</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Hospers emergency services aims for $2.8 million

HOSPERS—Emergency medical services and fire personnel are asking for community support to build up the Hospers Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services Department. The Hospers EMS Fundraising Committee announced in May its goal to construct a new facility for the community’s first responders costing $2.8 million. The committee has raised $1,277,600 as of Tuesday, Oct. 22.