Bradley County Fire & Rescue Station No. 10 on Tasso Lane, built a few years ago, is the fire department’s newest station. Three new stations are planned for Minnis Road, Dalton Pike and Georgetown Road.CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Three new fire stations that will serve double duty as storm shelters are expected to cost Bradley County more than anticipated.
On Wednesday, the county’s Finance Committee voted 5-0 to approve funding for Bradley County Fire & Rescue stations that will be at Minnis Road, Dalton Pike and Georgetown Road. The expense to the county is $1.1 million for the three facilities. Architectural design calculations placed the figure closer to half that amount.
The cost could have been as high as $1.5 million, except for a few construction material changes, Bradley County Mayor D. Gary Davis said. The biggest changes included installing a 30-year shingle roof instead of a metal roof and controlling water runoff with a detention pond instead of covering the site in porous concrete.
“We would prefer to do a metal roof,” Davis said. “It may be a payback in time when you start doing calculations, but at bid time it’s usually a killer. It was probably the biggest number in these changes.”
The metal roofing for the three stations would have cost $60,000, said Sandra Knight, county engineer.