MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — After a three-year wait to move in, Monroe County firefighters and paramedics are taking calls at their new headquarters.
"Everybody's comfortable, everybody likes it. It's more of a home to us now," says Interim Fire Chief Jason Lott.
It's a major upgrade to first responders. "As our department grows, we have more people, more apparatus, and the space wasn't there anymore. We started to get too crowded with the personnel there, so we needed to move up and upgrade," says Lott.
In 2016, the fire department told 13WMAZ they wanted to move from the location at Montpelier Road because of the school traffic down the street. It made it more difficult for fire trucks to get out and respond to emergencies.
County commissioners voted to purchase land on Juliette Road for the new headquarters.
During construction in 2017, they had some hiccups due to problems with the foundation and laying the utility lines.
After a nearly yearlong delay, commissioner Eddie Rowland says they intensified construction with contractors.
He says, "One after the other, many simultaneously, also working with the Department of Corrections, so we had a lot of work done in a very short period of time to get this done by the end of the year."
Now, first responders have more office space, rooms to rest, and meet for severe weather.
Rowland says, "I'm excited for it being an opportunity to get out to those fires a little quicker and get to that person a little faster."
The old headquarters on Montpelier Road will still be used by the county.
Commissioner Eddie Rowland says they haven't officially decided what to do with the space, but says the road department and vehicle maintenance still operate there, so they may utilize it for storage purposes.
The project cost nearly $2 million to complete.
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