New fire hall proposed for Somers Fire District board to decide how to move forward

Plans are in the works for a new fire hall to replace the Somers Rural Fire District’s fire station on Leslie Avenue in Somers, but the fire district’s board of trustees must first vote whether or not to proceed with a bond issue that would need voter approval.

The Somers Rural Fire District board will hold a special meeting Wednesday to decide whether to proceed with a bond that would fund the construction of a new fire hall. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Lakeside Fire Station, 125 Bills Road in Lakeside. According to Laurie Rice, the district’s administrative assistant, tentative plans for a new fire station have been drawn up. Three of the five board members must vote in favor to proceed with a bond.

Cost of a new building is not yet known, according to Rice. The fire district has purchased 5 acres on Somers Road for a new fire hall, about a half-mile south of Montana 82.

If the board moves forward with a bond, the next step would be to put the proposal on the ballot for voters within the fire district.

Somers organized a fire department in 1956 and started fighting fires the next year, according to longtime Somers resident and former fire chief Fran Van Rinsum.

The Somers Rural Fire District was created in 1959, and the current fire hall was built in 1960, said Van Rinsum, who served as fire chief of the district for 25 years and was a fireman for 27 years. He also served on the board in past years.

Van Rinsum said the district is struggling with issues familiar to many other rural fire districts: a growing number of calls and mandated demands on the fire department, and difficulty in finding volunteer firefighters.

“The first year [in 1957] we had 14 fires,” Van Rinsum said. “When I quit we had 74 that year; and there was about 380 last year.”

He added that mandated requirements for rural fire departments require a broader scope of services.

“Now they have to attend all the wrecks and have to have a medical unit. All of this has to be addressed,” he said.

Last year the fire district — which serves not only the Lakeside and Somers area but also Lower Valley — remodeled its Lakeside fire substation to accommodate more equipment.

The district has outgrown its Somers fire station, Van Rinsum said.

Somers/Lakeside Fire Chief Tom Havens could not be reached for comment.

Somers Rural Fire District board members include Chairman Bill Brass, Dave Hayes, Chelsey Spense, Dan Vachal and Cardi Chmielewski.