BUYCK- After more than two decades of dreaming and planning, the Buyck Volunteer Fire Department broke ground Tuesday on a new fire and EMS facility that will give its volunteers the space and resources they’ve long needed to protect their community.
“We’re just overwhelmed with excitement and just the idea of this finally happening,” said Fire Chief Kathy Weiand. “We’ve been planning it for over 20 years, trying to find funding, trying to find what we’re going to build, and it finally just all came together.”
The new facility will replace the department’s cramped, aging quarters with a modern, safer space for emergency response and training. The $950,000 project, funded through the state’s 2024 Omnibus Tax Bill, also includes money for design, engineering, and firefighting equipment.

Two-phase project
Construction will take place in two phases. The first will build a four-stall garage large enough to house the department’s vehicles, ATVs, and snowmobiles used to cover hundreds of miles of trail in its service area.
“The first stage is going to be basically the garage,” Weiand said. “It’ll have room for our trucks, our extra equipment, and just extra room to have a washer extractor to wash our turnout gear.”
A second phase will follow, adding a community hall and training space connected to the garage.
“It’ll be another 40 feet onto there,” Weiand said. “That’ll give us a nice big meeting room, offices, and it’ll be great for the community because it’ll be able to use for so much more in there.”
The larger space will also make it easier to host regional training with nearby departments. “So many things are changing now; fighting fires 40 years ago isn’t the same as fighting them now,” she said. “We need not only the equipment to do that with, but the training to do it as well.”
A lasting investment
Weiand credited local teamwork and strong state support for helping the project move from vision to reality. The funding was championed by Sen. Grant Hauschild of Hermantown, who attended Tuesday’s groundbreaking.
“This project is a direct result of collaboration between local leaders and the state Legislature,” Hauschild said. “Our rural fire departments are the backbone of public safety in northern Minnesota, and this investment ensures that volunteer firefighters have the tools and facilities they need to protect their communities.”
Hauschild emphasized that access to quality emergency services shouldn’t depend on geography. “Your zip code, the rural nature of your community, whatever it might be, should never determine whether or not those services or the quality that you have available to you should make a difference,” he said.
Honoring the founder
The ceremony also honored 87-year-old Bill Rutchasky, who helped organize the Buyck Fire Department 49 years ago and still carries the pride of its beginnings.
“This means a lot to us because we’re so small, and the people around here are really great and they’re doing a good job doing our fire department,” Rutchasky said.
Weiand affectionately called him “our founder and everybody’s dad—Father Bill.”
Looking ahead
Initial work for the foundation has already begun, and construction is expected to move at a good pace for the garage, provided the weather holds. For the volunteers who respond to fires, accidents, and medical emergencies across Portage Township, the new facility represents far more than bricks and mortar – it’s a long-overdue new home.
“We’re just so excited,” Weiand said. “It’s been a long road to get here, but it’s finally happening.”