HOMER — Banks County is continuing to update and expand its fire and emergency medical services stations.
Last week, the Banks County Commission unanimously approved spending $211,375 for the 60-by-120-by-16-foot insulated metal building with five walk-in doors, 15 four-by-four-foot storefront windows, and six 14-by-14-foot roll-up doors.
The building will be erected at 6011 Old Highway 4441 North, Baldwin, and will be known as Banks County Fire Station 25.
The facility will provide coverage to an area previously served through a fire service contract with Baldwin Fire Department. That contract was discontinued recently.
“That’s why we felt that was a section that definitely needed to be addressed is that area up there, and we’re doing so,” Banks County Fire/EMS Chief Steve Nichols told AccessWDUN. “We’re building a nice station up there that’s going to have paid staff in it. We’re going to run an engine and med unit out of it to start with. Hopefully down the road sometime soon we’ll be looking at putting a piece of aerial equipment up there.”
That proposed ladder truck would be available to respond to structure fires countywide. The county’s current ladder truck is stationed at Station 31 at 181 Industrial Park Boulevard, Commerce (Banks Crossing).
“The station is being built to accommodate all the future needs of that area,” Nichols said. “It will be a three-bay, drive-through station that you can drive in from the back and come out the front on emergency calls. It will come straight off of Old 441. It’s a very nice facility. It’s going to have a community room in it that will be able to be used by the public. There are some meetings that need to be in that area, and there will be precinct voting done out of the station, so it’s going to be more than just a fire station. We tried to accommodate the public needs up there.”
Nichols and commissioners said they are pleased with the price received from DCI Metal Buildings in Gainesville.
“We saw a $140,000 difference in price range, and I feel very good about the company that we’ve selected,” Nichols said. “They’re a reputable company. They’ve done some work in the area already for us, and they work with us very well so I’m looking forward to the project moving forward now.”
The new station will serve residents and businesses in the north end of Banks County, including those on U.S. 441, Old 441, Ga. 105 and many side roads and other areas.
“You’re going to see a huge drop in response times,” Nichols said. “The med unit will be moving up there. We currently house a med unit there in Hollingsworth on Old 441, which is three miles down the road. We’re going to retain that station as a volunteer station. We’ve already got a new old engine that we’re going to put up there at that facility, and we will have a firefighter stationed there, so you’ll have emergency response from the station quicker than we’ve had in the past.”
That additional part-time firefighter position in the district was added after the county’s longstanding fire protection contract with Baldwin Fire Department wasn’t renewed over the summer. That’s because previously Banks County had paid based on the number of structures in the coverage area, but Baldwin modified that formula to include the number of parcels covered. The costs were broken down by $85 per parcel for fire protection, $20 per parcel for medical first responder, and $10 per parcel for tree/snow removal, bringing the cost to Banks County for all three services to $48,645.
Since July 1, Banks County emergency personnel have been responding to the area formerly served by Baldwin Fire Department.
“We had a contract with the City of Baldwin to help provide fire protection in some of the area outside the municipality of Baldwin city limits,” Nichols said. “Now the increasing contract that they came up with this year for July 1, the commission decided that it was better for us to cover that part of the county, for which we have responsibility anyway.”
In the first 45 days outside the Baldwin fire protection contract, Banks County emergency personnel responded to 39 calls in the area previously covered by Baldwin, Nichols said.
“That’s about normal for that area,” Nichols said. “But it’s an increase for us because Baldwin was covering that area before.”
Currently, Banks County Fire Station 21 in Hollingsworth is the closest to that area and prior to the end of the Baldwin fire protection contract was served by only the medical crew on the ambulance.
That firefighter position currently staffs Station 21 during the day but has to float back to Station 51 in Homer at night due to very limited living quarters in Hollingsworth. Once open, Station 25 will be the beneficiary of the additional firefighter position.
“The plan right now is to have three personnel at that station when it opens,” Nichols said.
The new facility could be operational by the second quarter of 2019.
“We’re looking at 10 to 12 weeks delivery on the building,” Nichols said. “In that time, we’ll be continuing to prepare the site. A lot of the major rough grading has been done already. It will give us a chance to get the roughed-in plumbing done, the pad poured and everything in place by the time the building drops. The building should drop in eight to 12 weeks. Give him about three weeks to erect the building, then we go from there about finishing the inside for living quarters.”
Nichols foresees having Station 25 operational in about six months if nothing changes.
