With the popular recreation areas of the Raccoon River Valley Trail and Lenon Mill Park in their neck of the woods, the Panora Fire Department will be better equipped to respond to emergencies in hard to reach areas thanks to a recent donation.

The 10 Squared Men of Guthrie County decided at their quarterly meeting this past August to award $15,000 to the department. Panora Fire President Curtis Twigg says this donation has gone towards the purchase of a utility side-by-side vehicle that will be equipped with tools including a 60 gallon water tank and hose. Twigg says this vehicle will better navigate areas that their trucks cannot, such as responding to a grass fire, or someone injured on the trail, “We’ve even had calls along the river because that’s getting busier with people kayaking and tubing, where even the four wheel drive wasn’t able to get down to that way and we either had to carry them. I think someone fell off a horse one year, so we thought it’d be something to have in our arsenal.”

Twigg expects the department to receive the side-by-side in the next 60 days. He thanks the 10 Squared Men for their generosity. The charitable organization’s next meeting is on November 19th.