Amid concerns from firefighters and the Catoosa County Commission that Catoosa Fire Station No. 3 in Graysville isn’t meeting the Fire Department’s needs, Fire Chief Chuck Nichols met with the board of commissioners recently to discuss current as well as future issues the department may encounter. One of the primary points of discussion, Nichols said, was the state of Station No. 3.
“The station is outdated and very old,” he said. “There are several maintenance issues, and while the trucks are housed at the station, the firefighters have to be housed in a separate, temporary structure.”
According to Nichols, Station No. 3 was not originally built to be a fire station. It was acquired by the county and converted from a garage into a functioning station. However, regulations regarding modern fire stations have changed since the original renovation, he said.
“We’ve looked at the cost of remodeling the facility, and that would pretty cost prohibitive,” said Nichols.
At the March 15 commission meeting, Nichols requested a task order to hire a contractor for guidance on a demolition and build project at Station No. 3’s current location. This sparked discussion among the commissioners on whether the current location was best suiting Catoosa’s needs.
The county tries not to have more than 5 miles of space between any two stations, said Nichols, adding that overlapping coverage helps lower response times for the department.
Currently, Catoosa’s needs are being met by its fire stations in their present locations, County Manager Jim Walker said in a followup interview. However, depending on the growth and development in the county over the next several years, the need for stations in new locations could arise.
According to Walker, 72 percent of calls in the county were made to either Station No. 3, Ringgold Station No. 1, or Station No. 7 near Lakeview Drive. Thus, he said, it is paramount that Station No. 3 be in the best working order possible.
“Years down the road, we’ll be watching growth and construction in the county,” said Walker. “There are a couple pieces of property the county already owns that would be cost-effective as stations.”
Currently, Catoosa has a mutual aid agreement with Cohutta County, meaning both counties assist each other with fires near the county line. Walker said Catoosa is working to make that an automatic aid agreement, meaning stations from Cohutta would automatically respond to structure fires within five miles in Catoosa County, and Catoosa would do the same for Cohutta.
Walker added that Chief Nichols will be presenting a similar agreement with Walker County at the commissioners’ next meeting Tuesday, April 5.
These agreements, he said, help Catoosa fill any gaps in fire station coverage.
Catoosa currently has construction money for two stations from the 2014 special purpose local option sales tax, which could potentially help pay for a new facility at Station No. 3’s current location. Walker said the county will push to fund the construction of more new stations in the 2018 SPLOST.