Beiseker volunteer fire department is sporting a brand new look.
Early this summer, firefighter Korey Barker, 23, hand-painted a new outdoor sign for the station.
The sign, which features a white Maltese cross and gold and red lettering, replaced the old one, which recently blew down in a storm.
“The sign we had blew down and was laying there, and I didn’t like the way it looked, so I wanted to spruce it up,” said Barker, who has worked at the station for about eight months. “It makes the fire hall look better. It stands out more than the other one.”
Barker was pleased at the reaction by the other firefighters, which he says was enthusiastic.
“It felt good for sure,” said Barker. “I was definitely happy when people liked it. Now I drive by and say, ‘I made that; it looks good.’”
Captain Dan Martin said the sign showed a huge amount of respect for the hall and shows the community how proud the members are of their team.
“One member makes it contagious for every other member to clean and enhance the hall as well,” said Martin. “It shows a huge amount of civic pride. This one was over and above the call of duty.”
According to Martin, the Beiseker fire department has a close-knit community and Barker fits in well.
“On top of being in the fire service, we are all friends,” said Martin, adding that many of the members socialize on evenings and weekends.
Barker agreed.
“It is definitely a great group of guys, everybody looks out for each other,” he said. “It is just like a family.”
