GAINESVILLE – Shovelfuls of red Georgia soil were gently tossed forward at the new site of Gainesville Fire Station 2 on Cleveland Highway. The groundbreaking ceremony for the 14,000-square feet facility to replace the current home of Station 2 was now official.
Gainesville Fire Chief Jerome Yarbrough spoke warmly of the current, but deteriorating home of Station 2, 2.3-miles away at the intersection of Piedmont Road and Holly Drive. “Fire Station 2, if it could talk, it got a lot of history. It was built in 1954, and 65 years later we’re still using it. We got to the point where certain fire engines wouldn’t go into the bays. The plumbing …is failing out there and the building is actually sinking.”
The new fire station will have all the state-of-the-art features available, and is designed for endurance. Kent Snyder, Precision Planning, Inc., said, “One thing that has been on the forefront…throughout the design of this fire station is durability and longevity, for this station to be a fifty, seventy-five year station.”
“All the interior walls are concrete block walls…all the exterior will be brick for durability and ease of maintenance,” Snyder said, but being concerned about the lifespan of the firefighters inside the building is also of great concern.
“Cancer prevention is a big topic right now,” Snyder explained, “with all of the contamination these firefighters are bringing back from the events. So what we have done…is we have created a ‘decontamination room’ for the station, where they can come in, take their gear off…with a shower so they can completely strip down, decontaminate, before they ever go back on the living side of the station.”
The new station will have twelve bunk rooms, one for each of the firefighters on duty, plus a bunk room for the captain and lieutenant assigned to each shift. Personnel from the current Piedmont Road location will move into the new complex and be joined by additional firefighters, as larger fire trucks will become part of Station 2 when Carrol Daniel Construction completes its work at the end of summer 2020.
Yarbrough said the location of the new station is ideal for serving the Limestone Parkway corridor, offering quick access to I-985, as well.
Construction cost of the new building is $4.87-million, which is provided by SPLOST 7 revenues.
Previous owner of the property, Phil Wofford, and his wife, Jan, looked on during the ceremony, undoubtedly recounting 63-years of working from the family-started business on the site, Wofford TV Sales and Service.
Phil said he could have gotten more money for the site if he wanted to, but was happy to be available to help his hometown when it had a need. He said his father, who started the business, would be proud of him doing that. “If my Dad would look down he’d say, ‘Boy, you done a good job.’”
http://accesswdun.com/article/2019/11/853229/gainesville-breaks-ground-on-new-fire-station-2-home