Creston Fire receives storm shelter in time for storm season

Creston Fire Department finally has a safe place to seek shelter in the event of severe weather, thanks to Precast Concrete Company.

Previously, the fire department did not have a storm shelter. In the event of a severe weather event, it was a game of chance.

“We just hoped and prayed it went around us,” Creston Fire Chief Todd Jackson said. “Underneath the truck was about the best we could do for any type of protection.”

That was until this past fall, when Darian David of Precast Concrete Company in Creston decided to donate a storm shelter to the fire department.

The storm shelter is a new product for Precast Concrete Company in Creston. The only other one David has installed in the area so far is at his own home.

After Creston Fire Department helped David out by burning an old house located on the property when he purchased Precast Concrete Company three years ago, he decided to repay the favor by donating the storm shelter.

“He (Jackson) was looking at storm shelters, because they had nothing for the guys there. They’ve always got someone there all the time,” David said. “You never know when you need those guys, too.”

The storm shelter, located on the northwest side of the fire station, dug into an embankment, features 4 1/2 inch thick walls made of 5,000 PSI concrete mix, which is the same mix used to pour highways.

BSM Enterprises in Arispe made the doors and vents for the shelter.

“I thought I’d go local with everything I can get,” David said.

David said at a recent national Precast show, a couple of plants in Colorado showed videos of them dropping cars on top of the shelters, showing how durable and safe they are.

“They inquired as to if we had anything here for sheltering during a tornado event. We have not had. We’ve known that as a weakness here,” Jackson said. “For awhile, it was amazing, people would show up to the fire station from trailer courts and stuff. They’d come up here thinking it’s the fire station so it has to be a safe place to shelter. That’s not the case. It’s a lightweight, steel-constructed building with no shelter in it at all.”

Jackson said anywhere from four to six firefighters are in the fire station during a severe weather event, with spotters scattered throughout the area.

“There’s always a staff here that are vulnerable in the case of a tornado,” he said.

Jackson estimated he could fit a dozen people in the shelter, possibly more if the situation required it.

During severe weather events, many of the firefighters are scattered with the trucks. Jackson said he does not want to lose the fire station and all of the department’s equipment if a tornado were to hit the station.

David said Lenox Fire Department purchased a similar storm shelter about four years ago before Precast Concrete Company began producing them, and had to go all the way to Fairfield to purchase one.

“We appreciate a good, strong, supportive community and Precast is one that’s helped us a number of times throughout the years,” Jackson said. “They’ve done good things for us. It’s a good community partner for the fire department.”

Severe weather season

Jackson said as severe weather season approaches quickly, his department will begin implementing the storm shelter into training and planning.

Iowa Severe Weather Awareness Week is March 26-30, and the fire department will test the sirens during the week.

“We’re just starting to think of storm season already again,” Jackson said. “If we have an imminent strike we think is pretty close, we can seek shelter until the storm passes.”

As severe weather season approaches, Jackson encourages residents to have a way to be notified of approaching severe weather and to have a plan in place when severe weather strikes.

“Realize our siren system is an outdoor warning system. It isn’t designed to alert everyone in their homes, so you need to have an alternative method of being notified of serious storms in your homes,” Jackson said.

“So those weather radios are good or weather alerts on your smartphone. Be aware of what’s going on around you. Just like with fires – we have drills for that – we need to have a plan for serious storms. We’re one of those areas that frequently get caught in severe weather, so we have to be ready for it.”