Station 182, announced in June, will be built about a quarter mile north of the Shoal Creek Community on Dunnavant Valley Road, or Alabama 41. The station will assist Mt Laurel's Station 183. It will directly serve the Shoal Creek, Stonegate Farms, The Shires, Hollybrook Lake, Smyer Lake, Lake Wehapa and Spring Stone communities.

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.

The sheriff's department said the workers were loading an accident victim into their ambulance when a bolt of lightning knocked both of them to the ground.

They were taken to the Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center in Leitchfield.

Both workers were treated and released about two hours later.

The like-new fire engine has added capabilities that will replace an aging, less capable engine. The choice to purchase a refurbished engine rather than a brand new one reportedly saved the department thousands of dollars.

Police say a fire rescue truck was stolen from Fire Station 3 just before 10 a.m. Monday. Zachary Lee Paulk gained entry into the station while firefighters were away for training. He drove the fire truck through a bay door of the fire house.

Paulk drove through the neighborhood knocking over mailboxes and causing property damage, according to authorities. Paulk's ride was eventually cut short when he crashed into a vehicle in the 2000 block of Bobo Road in Paulding County.

According to witnesses, Paulk then tried to steal an SUV on Bobo Road before being encountered by the homeowner. Paulk retreated into the garage where he was later walked out by the homeowner.