Fort Mill getting second fire station. Here’s what it means to people in the area
When property catches fire, distance matters. A whole bunch of
"This station here will absolutely help our response times into the
"We're also continuing our partnership with the police department, as always, with a place for them in this facility. And generally just helping the community to get service to them faster."
The second station in
"Without (town council's) vision and support, this would not be taking place," he said.
The site already is cleared. Now, passers by will start to see construction.
"We've had some years of planning and getting this to fruition, but we are real close and you should see some footings going in starting next week," Wilkerson said.
Fire service is one of several key areas picked by town leaders back in 2015 for charging impact fees. A fee on new construction projects in
Last fiscal year, more than
In some ways, the increased need for fire service is similar to what many project other parts of
County leaders gathered several times in recent months to discuss the need for more firefighters, including paid positions. County volunteer chiefs say finding and keeping volunteers is difficult with so many people working outside their communities now and extensive training required before anyone can step into a burning building.
On Monday night, just hours after the
"The firemen that are surrounding us today respond to every emergency we have," she said. "They are first responders. They put duty and safety first. They leave their own families in a time of crisis so that they can join us in ours. They put us first."
The new fire station, Savage said, will help firefighters do it better.
"We need to make sure that they have everything they need to operate within the standard of excellence that's been set for years in the
The location of the second station is important. Insurance safety ratings score fire departments on a number of factors. Those ratings determine how much people pay for fire insurance, largely based on how far they are from a station or hydrant.
Both the Massey and Waterside at the Catawba were approved for more than 1,000 homes each off of
"This new fire station will allow better insurance rates in this end of town where we're continuing to see growth," Savage said. "It will allow great response times that we all expect."
"It's not just service to the homes and the fires but to those that have accidents on the bypass, or on the perimeter of the town," Savage said. "So as you can hear from the traffic going by, the new high school right across the street, we were very fortunate that the developer of this particular small neighborhood gave us the land to site our new fire station."
Leaders say they continually look two, three or more decades out to anticipated community needs. Which is how they got to a new fire station on the parkway. They will keep finding solutions to fire service needs, they say, because the issue is important.
"We want to make sure our firemen are served as well as they serve us," Savage said.
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