County officials have set Aug. 8 to open the various bids to build a new county fire station in Tyrone at the intersection of Ga. Highway 74 and Jenkins Road.
The 6.6-acre site will have a 9,487 sq. ft. station and once the bid is approved construction is estimated to last 300 days barring any delays from weather or other unforeseen circumstances, according to Deputy Fire Chief Tom Bartlett.
The design of this building is a departure from the layout used for the last several fire stations built by the county, and the main reason is to allow more room for expansion in the future if necessary.
The last few fire stations built by the county have separate crew quarters on either side of the equipment bay, so expanding them requires going out the rear or the front of the bay, Bartlett explained. In this new design, the living quarters are on one side of the building so it will be easier to expand on the other side.
“Fire stations are built with a vision of being 50-year buildings,” Bartlett said. “… It’s really going to be a great design. We are building this with the future in mind and that’s the main thing.”
Another reason for relocating the current Station 3 in downtown Tyrone is due to the septic tank problems that building has experienced, Bartlett said. The upside of the new fire station is that it will be connected to the city’s sewer system.
Some long-time Tyrone residents will miss having Station 3 downtown. But the new location is “logistically better” for the fire department in terms of response times for its coverage area, Bartlett said.
