Fire rescue personnel, community representatives and residents attended a ceremony which included a ribbon cutting, officially declaring the station open to help the public.  

“FishHawk residents can rest easy now that station 44 is active,” said County Commissioner Stacy White, speaking at the opening ceremony. “I am proud to have this new station in my district.”

The station, which was completed with a $2.9 million budget, is 10,000 sq. ft., including a refueling facility, safe room, modern living quarters, a climate controlled bunker gear room and three bays housing a new fire engine.

Prior to the new law, the Rural Fire Truck Acquisition Assistance Program had not been funded in six of the last 10 years, and many counties have been waiting to purchase trucks. Some have previous applications for the grants already on file with the program.

"We've got 29 applications from previous rounds that we did not have money for, in addition to the trucks that haven't had applications submitted, so we most definitely will get more applications in," said Brad Smith, state fire coordinator. "I would be surprised if we didn't go through the entire $4.5 million.