The Village of Fillmore is celebrating the grand opening of its new emergency services building this July 30th. Russ Leguee, president of the Fillmore EMS, says the long-awaited facility will allow the different emergency services to operate more efficiently after years of being overcrowded.
“We were housing the fire department in the RM of Fillmore shop, which has become very cramped for space, cramped for meetings, training purposes, so we wanted to move it from there. Our ambulance was stored in the village shop, also tight for space, and nowhere to house our emergency services people who are on call."
"The dream of the building, it's been a fairly long one, until a group of us got together and thought ‘we need to do this’.”
An addition to the building addresses another need in the community, a commercial car wash. Leguee explains this was added when the building committee realized the need for one in Fillmore, and it will help them keep up with operational costs.
He says the project was a community effort, with a family near the community donating most of the land needed, and locals helping prepare the site for construction. From there, he says they put out tenders and held public meetings that were met with tremendous support.
“We solicited a lot of donations, trying to raise funds, but at the end of the day we raised close to $850,000 and we went ahead and built the building.”
Their final fundraiser for the project will wrap up at the grand opening event, a raffle for a John Deere tractor from South Country Equipment.
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The grand opening will be on July 30th beginning at 2 p.m. and feature dignitaries including the Mayor and Reeve. A free barbeque will be served before the festivities end with the raffle draw at 4 p.m.