Houston makes another big move with fire department

A day after celebrating the opening of the Houston County Fire Department’s first station to operate non-stop, the County Commission on Tuesday made a move to build another station like it.

The board voted to buy 24 acres on Lake Joy Road to build a station that will replace Station 5 on the same road. Commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker said construction may not begin for another year or two. The land is currently owned by Cordelia Jewell Hayward and the purchase price is $191,000.

The tract is located about halfway between the current station and Sandefur Road, across from Oak Level Missionary Baptist Church.

Stalnaker said the station will be similar to Station 6 the county opened Monday on the Ga. 247 Spur near Kathleen. Station 6 is 12,000 square feet on the first floor, is staffed around the clock and it houses an ambulance crew. The new Lake Joy station will also become a full-time station.

“We get a lot of conversation about the fire department in Houston County, but we are working our way to what it really needs to be and what it ought to be,” said Commissioner Tom McMichael. “We made one stride yesterday and made another stride today.”

Stalnaker said he is already talking with Houston Healthcare, which operates the county’s ambulance service, about putting an ambulance crew in the new Lake Joy station, and he expects that will happen.

But the new station won’t be exactly the same as Station 6. The new station will house the county fire department’s administrative offices, as well as the Houston Emergency Management Agency. Those offices are currently in the 911 Center, and Stalnaker said the move would free up some space there.

The Lake Joy station also will have a larger land area than Station 6, which has about 5 acres. The additional land on the Lake Joy tract will be used for training facilities in the future, Stalnaker said.

The money to buy the tract is coming from the county’s reserve fire fund, which comes from an extra property tax residents in the unincorporated area of the county pay.

Robbie Dunbar, the county’s operations director, told the commission after the vote that their moves to improve fire service are making a difference for the department that depends heavily on volunteers.

“We’ve seen a boost in moral among the fire department and the firefighters,” Dunbar said.

This story was originally published August 1, 2017 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Houston makes another big move with fire department."