New Fire Station opens in Grove

The Mountain Grove Fire Department hosted an Open House for its new fire station on Friday, Sep 20 from 2-6 p.m. The new station is located at 215 S. Lake St.
Firemen provided free burgers and hot dogs, free fire safety handouts for the kids and there were tours conducted of the new building.
Work on the new station, located at the site of the former Intercounty Electric building, completed this month.
With a budget of just around $58,000, it was noted that City workers and volunteers did the renovations themselves.
City Administrator Becky Davis said “several of the full-time and volunteer firefighters have worked many hours on the renovation.”
In reviewing the former fire station, that location’s original building design was not for firefighters who work 24-hour shifts with a need for a sleeping quarters.
The new station accommodates that and also has quarters for volunteers that sign-up to work overnight shifts.
Also during the Open House, Mountain Grove Fire Chief Clinton Gibbens introduced the City’s new fire truck.
Chief Gibbens held a wet down ceremony, which is a tradition of washing the fire truck with a fire hose before pushing it back into the fire station.
This tradition is a way to officially bless the new equipment and honor the firefighters’ commitment to the community.
The new fire truck was purchased for $685,000.
The City financed the purchase with a payment around $90,000 annually for seven years.
The payment will be budgeted each year and that funding comes from the police and fire sales tax that was passed several years ago in the City of Mountain Grove.