New fire station an asset for Cullman

May 03, 2008 07:56 pm

— Monday night the Cullman City Council approved a bid for the construction of a new building to relocate Fire Station Two. This move will improve fire department service delivery in the City of Cullman. Two significant factors led to the decision to relocate the station to the property on Main Avenue SW between Marvin’s Building Supply Company (1707) and Wittichen Supply Company (1715).
Firstly, the growth the city of Cullman has experienced during the 44 years since Fire Station Two was built prompted us to evaluate its present location in light of today’s needs. While in 1964 this location may have been acceptable, our research indicates that it doesn’t serve the current needs of the department. Fire Station One, located at city hall and Fire Station Two, at 601 7th Ave. SW, are less than a mile apart. The standard response district for Fire Station Two significantly overlaps that of Fire Station One. Moving Fire Station Two further south will improve our first due response time to an area of town that includes residential, commercial, industrial, and health care occupancies. This move will substantially increase the area included in our standard response district as well as improve our first due response time to a significant number of calls in that area.
Secondly, the current station, is not adequate to house modern fire apparatus. Due to many improvements and innovations, fire apparatus are necessarily larger and more sophisticated than in the 1960’s. When we studied renovating Fire Station Two to make it functional for our current needs, we found that the cost of the renovations make it more financially practical to rebuild.
Wisely, in my opinion, the city administration chose to address both issues by rebuilding the station in a more desirable location. I wish to thank Mayor Green, and the members of the Cullman City Council for supporting this project.
Fire Chief Michael Hackney
Cullman Fire Rescue