Creston on track to build new fire hall

The 53rd year of the Creston Auction, the region’s largest spring event each April, brings with it this year the goal of funding the Creston Fire Department’s new fire hall.

Still in the middle of its design phase, the new hall has been an identified need for the department for the last 10 years, since the department first recognized it had outgrown the facility, according to Fire Chief Gary Mahugh.

Modern fire trucks are bigger than those used when the current Fire Station 251 was built in the 1960s.

About three years ago, the perfect property for a new building was put up for sale — 7 acres directly west of the Creston School.

For several years, the department has leased the lot for parking during the Creston Auction, and when it went on the real estate market, the firefighters stepped up to help purchase the land and donate it to the Creston Fire District.

The new hall, Mahugh said, will have larger truck bays capable of housing up to four fire trucks if needed in the future. Two truck bays, he added, will be drive-thru accessible, eliminating the need to back the trucks in and enabling faster dispatch and return.

On the community side of the new hall, the building will feature a meeting center similar to the one in the current station, as well as a semi-commercial kitchen. In preparation for any future changes to the department, the facility also will include staff living quarters with bunkrooms, shower rooms and a staff kitchen.

Though plans have not been finalized, Mahugh said he estimates the industrial area or apparatus storage areas would be approximately 70-by-86 feet with a similarly sized personnel facility.

The cost of the new facility isn’t yet available, but Mahugh said the majority of the proceeds from this year’s auction will go toward its construction.

Each year, the Creston Auction, held the first weekend in April, brings in $30,000 to $50,000 for the department.

The auction attracts around 7,000 people annually and requires roughly 200 volunteers and six months of planning to put together.

Participants from across the Northwest, Canada and beyond travel to take part in the three-day event, during which thousands of items — from tractors, cars and motor homes to antique chests, gardening equipment and building materials — are auctioned off by a team of about 15 professional auctioneers from around the country.

From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, April 5, people can bring in nearly any kind of item fit for consignment. The fire department takes a small percentage of each sale to cover costs and then writes a check to the seller for the remainder of the price for which the item sold.

Over the last couple of years, Mahugh said they have written $250,0000 to $300,000 in checks to consigners who bring their items.

All the household and smaller items get auctioned on Saturday in one of the five sales going on simultaneously.

The Saturday sale, April 6 this year, Mahugh said, typically attracts a full gambit of items, from the common sporting equipment and camping gear to stranger items that have even included coffins.

“It would be a shorter list of things that we haven’t seen, than things we have,” Mahugh said.

On Sunday, the larger items, like farm equipment, automobiles, building materials, and more, go up for auction.

The volunteers never know what they’ll be auctioning until the final item comes in Friday night, but the one thing they don’t take, Mahugh emphasized, is junk.

Having been to every one of the 52 past auctions, Mahugh said the event has changed significantly since its early days when the auction took place on the back of a truck in a matter of about two hours.

“There’s nothing like it until you live it,” he said.

This year will be the second year the auction welcomes local food vendors to feed the large number of participants and volunteers. The event will also include bake sales, rummage sales, kids activities, crafts and more.

This year’s event will take place April 5-7 next to the Creston School on Creston Road.

Bid tickets are $5 on Saturday and $10 on Sunday.

For more information about the Creston Fire Department and the Creston Auction, visit http://crestonfire.org/.

Reporter Mary Cloud Taylor can be reached at 758-4459 or mtaylor@dailyinterlake.com.