It's up, it's open and operational.
The new Englefeld Fire Hall was officially opened on September 7, just over a year after construction began.
The Village of Englefeld and the Englefeld Fire Department set out to raise funds to construct the new building in early 2011, when it was decided their old hall was just too small.
While the old hall had just enough room for their pumper truck and firefighters' gear, there was nowhere to park their tanker truck, or their rescue unit.
Those vehicles had to be parked in cold storage over the winter, which meant the tanker had to be drained. That made firefighters nervous over the winter months, as the 500 gallons of water in their pumper truck goes quickly when they're fighting a major fire - it only lasts about seven minutes or less.
So it was decided in the spring of 2011 that they would start looking for some financial support from the community to share the burden of the approximate $100,000 price tag of a new hall.
Now, the new hall is open - and it was all done on budget.
Posters up on the walls of the new hall, located just south of the old hall, show just how many members of the community - businesses and private individuals - contributed to the new hall.
Englefeld Fire Chief Dave Regie proudly pointed out the number on the back wall - $108,764, which is the total cost of the new hall. Underneath that number, proudly proclaimed, it states "On budget."
Another fact Regie is proud of is that each of his 11 volunteer firefighters put over 200 hours of volunteer labour into building the hall. Others in the community also donated hundreds of hours to finishing the structure, he added.
Together, the community so far has put together about $61,000 towards the new hall. A whopping $25,000 of that came from one individual - Melvin Boscher.
Boscher, who was present at the opening ceremony - in fact, he got to cut the ribbon - grew up on the family farm about five miles west of Englefeld, and attended school in the village.
Though he moved to Estevan in the early 1970s, his parents, Paul and Louise Boscher, still live near the community. And when he read about the village and fire department raising money for this new hall, he decided to help them out.
The oil company accountant wrote them a cheque, right then and there, and mailed it off.
"Just to give back," he stated when asked why he did that.
"It looks very nice," he said of the new hall.
And it works a lot better than their old one did, Regie believes.
So far, they've responded to two calls out of the new hall, Regie said - both motor vehicle collisions. And the firefighters have all remarked about how much room they now have to get dressed.
In their old hall, the firefighters were in very cramped quarters. Their lockers for their bunker gear nearly touched the trucks. Now, they each have a few feet to move around it when getting dressed.
In front of a crowd of people from the community, including students from Englefeld School, Regie thanked Englefeld for their contributions to the new hall.
"Without Melvin (Boscher) and all the other donations... and people helping out, building the place, it wouldn't have happened," Regie said.
"I can't thank the firefighters enough... they put in an unbelievable amount of hours.... Thank you from the bottom of my heart. What you've done for the fire hall, for the town, it's great to see."
When this project first came to the attention of the village council, they knew they were in no position to pay for something of this size, stated Mayor Darrell Athmer at the ceremony.
"We just didn't have the resources to do it," he said.
But Regie convinced that with the firefighters donating the labour, and the community providing some funding, it could be done.
"It's very well built. It's very well done," Athmer said, looking around the new hall. "Without the volunteers, the generous donations from people... this project would not have (happened)."
"You've outdone yourselves," remarked Mayor Mike Saretsky of Watson. "Built with volunteer labour - this is amazing. Job well done."
Melfort MLA Kevin Phillips was on hand at the opening ceremony.
"This area of the province, this part of the constituency, is fascinating to me," he said, "because it's different."
As part of the Iron Triangle, Englefeld has a sense of "let's do it," he said. "You people are different because of your independence, because of your ingenuity, but mostly because of your attitude. You lived in the New Saskatchewan long before we ever put the name on the new Saskatchewan... Imagine what the province would be like if all (communities) were like this (one)."
Fire Commissioner Duane McKay was also on hand to congratulate the Englefeld Fire Department.
"For a community of 300 people, you have done an outstanding job not just in the facility you have now, but in your ingenuity in how you got it together," he told the crowd.
The fire service in each community is usually dependent on taxpayers, and sometimes it takes a long time for a department to get what it needs.
McKay called the cost of constructing the Englefeld hall "amazing" - especially the fact that it came in on budget.
The hall, he said, is the result of a real community effort - by clubs, and individuals.
"We're talking about multi-generational loyalty to this little town. It's really special," he said. "Firefighters are tremendously good people, but they are only as good as the community that supports them."
The presence of fire departments from other communities at the ceremony, he added, shows that this area of the province is well looked after.
