Maury County Fire Station 10 to be completed in April

Feb. 15--After breaking ground in October, Maury County Fire Station 10 is expected to be ready for firefighters before the start of the summer.

The heavy concrete base has been laid, the building's outer shell is now up and workers are beginning to work on the interior.

Steve Hewlett of Hewlett Spencer, LLC, the group managing the building's construction, confirmed the new volunteer fire station should be ready by the middle of April.

"Everything we do is a demonstration that our number one objective is to give you the best quality product for your money," Hewlett told Maury County commissioners at a recent meeting.

Located at the intersection of Old Highway 99 and Lasea Road, just west of where Bear Creek Pike meets Interstate-65, the new volunteer fire station will provide a quick response time to regions of the county that previously cost responders precious time to get to during emergency situations.

More than 2,500 homes and an estimated 58 businesses are located in the area.

"This is a prime location Maury County Fire Chief Eric Hileman previously told The Daily Herald. "It is filling a void in an area with a dense population. About a third of our population lives in this part of the county."

Maury County Mayor Charlie Norman said the $775,000 project will lower insurance rates for nearby residents.

For Norman, a veteran firefighter, the station is a follow-through of a promise he gave to voters and constituents to make sure that one of the county's fastest growing communities is properly protected.

The station will be manned by volunteers, many of whom are employed full-time firefighters and EMS personnel with the county and other nearby emergency service departments.

Although no official agreement has been made, Norman said the City of Columbia may run a team of city firefighters out of the building.

The Columbia Fire Department is primarily responsible for the many properties located near I-65, including six hotels, five gas stations and seven restaurants.

"In the future, we hope the City of Columbia will man this 24 hours, and we look forward to having a ladder truck out here with all the hotels being built," Norman said.

Hewlett Spencer, LLC worked with the county commission to trim the structure's original expected price tag of of more than $1.5 million.

A project more than two years in the making, Hewlett said the price tag would have been much higher now with the cost of construction increasing in Middle Tennessee.

He said construction continues on an 1,100 foot sewer line that will connect the rural region to the county utility, sharing that the county will be able to recoup the cost by charging a fee to others using the line as the area grows.

"You all made a good business decision in doing that," Hewlett said. "That was a smart thing to do."

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