Oglethorpe Power donated land to Monroe County so they could build a new fire station in place of the one that burned down last year, 41NBC.com reported.

Monroe County Commissioners approved by a 3-0 vote October 4 to accept the donation of four acres of land on Ray Hartley Road from Oglethorpe Power for the location of a new Smarr fire station, according to a Monroe County Board of Commissioners Facebook post.

The new station, which is slated to open in 2023, will replace the former one on Evans Road that burned down in November 2021, according to the Facebook post.

A fire official said the land the old fire station sits on in Smarr isn’t big enough for what they want to build, according to the report.

The fire official said the donated lot is level with quick access to the freeway. They want a station big enough for the fire truck, rescue truck and ambulances, the report said.

A city official said the new fire station will be state-of-the-art with an engine, ladder, sleeping quarters and more, according to the report.

The county is starting the bidding process and hopes to break ground within the next month, the report said. It will take about a year to build the new fire station.

Sutphen—DeKalb County (GA) Fire Rescue 105-foot tractor-drawn aerial. Monarch heavy-duty tractor cab and chassis; Cummins X12 500-hp engine; huck bolted #304 stainless-steel body; Onan 7.5-kW generator; Duo Safety ground ladder complement; TFT Typhoon electric monitor with M-ERP-2000 nozzle and stacked tips. Dealer: Jerry Harley, Williams Fire Apparatus, Ashland, AL.

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Roanoke Rapids City Council Tuesday approved a capital project ordinance which allows for the purchase of a new fire truck through a FEMA Assistance to Firefighters grant, RRSpin.com reported.

The grant award is $476,190 and the city’s match is $158,947, the report said.

A fire official told the council that paying for the truck up front will save the city money because a price increase is expected within the next two to three weeks, according to the report.

Delivery of the truck through the Federal Emergency Agency grant is expected to take 16 months, the fire official said – the same amount of time it will take the fire department to receive one it is getting through American Rescue Plan Act funding.

The truck coming through the FEMA grant will be one to replace engine 142, a 1991 model which is rife with problems, the report said. 

The truck is in need of an engine rebuild, has a rusted pump, electrical issues, no air conditioning and is not up to current National Fire Protection Association safety standards, city fire officials have said.

Representatives from the Stanford Heights Fire Department presented a slightly scaled down plan to build a new $12.5 million fire station behind the existing station on Central Avenue, SpotlightNews.com reported.

There are five parcels of land totaling three-plus acres along Central Avenue between Covington and Wilber avenues that will be combined into one parcel to accommodate the new fire station with a footprint of 15,000 square feet, the report said. With a portion of the station having a second floor, with a community room, offices and a commercial kitchen, the total square footage is proposed to be about 23,000 square feet.

The existing station is about 14,000-square-feet and will eventually be razed, according to the report.

As proposed, the fire apparatus will utilize drive-through bays and leave for calls onto Wilber Avenue and return via Covington Avenue. Currently, the apparatus has to swing around in the front of the building onto Central Avenue — with a firefighter directing traffic — and backed into the bays. There would be three drive-through bays with four overhead doors on the Wilber Avenue side of the building.

The original plan, proposed in August, 2020, had five drive-through bays and a 17,000-square-foot footprint, the report said.