"It has been in the works for years," said Fire Chief John S. Hannum. "The town finally decided to replace the truck. Forty years on a fire truck is way overdue."

The old truck was made in 1975, can only hold 750 gallons of water, has more than 19,000 miles on it and runs on gasoline, not diesel.

Hannum said the new truck is a huge improvement, and the town can expect quicker and more efficient response times to emergencies. One notable improvement, he continued, is that it can seat six firefighters wearing emergency air packs. In contrast, the old truck can seat three, and firefighters have to keep their air packs in storage compartments elsewhere.

The new engine can pump 1,500 gallons of water per minute, has a tank capacity of 1,000 gallons, and also has the ability to discharge firefighting foam. As far as gadgets go, a backup camera, remote control water cannon on top of the truck, a GPS system and on-the-spot snow chains help bring the department's equipment up to date.

This is not the first fire station in Shoal Creek. Volunteers opened the original one, which CVFD began fully manning in 1991. That station, also called Station 182, closed in 2002 when the Mt Laurel station opened. Wilkinson said the department decided to carry that name over to the new building rather than renumbering it.

Stonegate Farms resident Allison Arnett said having closer emergency services can only benefit her neighborhood, especially as the rural area includes many homes on large lots. With the recent completion of Grandview Medical Center and the Brookwood Freestanding Emergency Department on U.S. 280, Arnett said residents in the Dunnavant Valley Road area have more access to emergency care close to home.

Wilkinson said reducing response times was a major factor in deciding to build Station 182. He said currently, response times in the area max out at about 10 minutes, but the new station will reduce that time to a maximum of five minutes.

Shelby County Development Services provided data from the 2014 American Community Survey, an annual survey performed by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2014, the survey estimated that the Dunnavant CDP (Census-Designated Place) had about 830 people living in it, and the Shoal Creek CDP had nearly 1,400 people living in it.

CDPs are used by the Census Bureau to define areas of the country that are not incorporated into cities.

The Dunnavant CDP is bound by the Shelby County line on the north and east, Hollybrook Lake Road and Shephard Gap Road to the west and the Bob Hood Branch stream to the south. The Shoal Creek CDP is on the south side of Dunnavant Valley Road, stretching from Double Oak Way to Hollybrook Lake Road.