Signal studying 2nd fire station

Recommendation expected soon

Shackleford Ridge Road might soon be seeing a new fire station.

During the Jan. 28 Signal Mountain Town Council work session, town Fire Chief Eric Mitchell updated the council on a fire station feasibility study he's working on along with the Municipal Technical Advisory Service.

The study, which Mitchell said he hopes to present to the council in March or April, will recommend to the council whether or not a second fire station should be built in the Shackleford Ridge area. It will also recommend the time frame in which the second station should be built, should one be recommended, he said.

"It will give [the council] information they need to make a good, solid informed decision," Mitchell said after the meeting.

A study of the town's fire protection was conducted in 2010, he said, but since then a significant amount of development has occurred or been approved, including Wild Ridge at Fox Run.

The recent annexation of the Fox Run and Windtree subdivisions has also added new residents for the town to provide fire services for, and the 2010 study also didn't take Signal Mountain Middle/High School into consideration, he said.

A 2.5-acre site on Shackleford Ridge Road, near the entrance of Windtree, is already owned by the town and intended for a second fire station.

"You'll never have a perfect spot," Mitchell told the council. "That property is probably in about as good a location as you can find out in that area.

"We do respond out there, it's just a matter of timeliness," he added.

Interim Town Manager and Police Chief Boyd Veal noted that response time to SMMHS would be cut in half with the potential fire station.

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