23 days ago
In an emergency, every second counts, and for some in Peach County, emergency crews could soon be on the scene minutes quicker.
Peach County is ready to restart construction on its new fire and EMS building.
The new station could help crews get to parts of Peach County that, before, were more out-of-the-way.
"Seconds. Seconds is what can count in a fire," says Jeff Doles, fire chief for Peach County.
But Doles says some parts in Northwest Peach County are several minutes away from station #2 in South Fort Valley.
Doles says it's not a problem of distance, but location. He says right now, the county's South and East station respond to that area from across town.
Crews must cut through downtown Fort Valley, sometimes getting caught in traffic or stopped by a train.
"It takes us several extra minutes when a train is on the track to navigate and go over the bypass to avoid the train," says Doles.
Those speedbumps could soon be gone, says Doles, now that they're building a new fire and EMS station in Northwest Fort Valley.
Station #2 is just one of the fire stations that would be dispatched to the Northwest area, and Fire Chief Jeff Doles says some of those calls could take up to 10 minutes. He says with the new station, that time could be cut down to 1 or 2 minutes.
The station will be next to the new Peach County Elementary School.
Doles says the site will give better access to the Highway-96 West corridor and 341 North corridor.
Some of the affected areas include:
- Peggy Drive
- Rolling Hills Road
- Woolfolk Road
"Those trucks will be a lot closer and have a much better response time," says Doles. "Plus, it's located right by the new bypass, the Highway-49 Connector, so our response time backing up other stations will be a lot better."
Doles says when the nearly half-million dollar project is complete, it will be their largest station and be staffed full-time by at least one firefighter.
It will be one of six Peach County fire stations.
Construction was delayed for 2 months while title issues were resolved. Doles says they have the foundation built but have paused because of the rain.
He says the Board of Education donated the 3-acres, and the building will be paid for through a local sales tax.
