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Growth prompts need for fire substation

Credit: Jennifer Frew | The News Herald

Lovelady Fire and Rescue Chief Winfield Abee stands at the site of the new station in Connelly Springs, where construction is preparing to begin.

By Sharon McBrayer
Published: July 15, 2010

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Connelly Springs --

Lovelady Fire Department is building a new substation beside Connelly Springs Town Hall.
The current location for Lovelady Fire Department on Malcolm Boulevard in Rutherford College will remain in use.
Winfield Abee, chief of the fire department, said the new substation will help lower the cost of insurance for some in its coverage area because it will give them points on the grading system for the state’s Department of Insurance.
Abee said fire department officials have planned on adding a substation for a couple of years. He said all of the districts of the fire department’s 27.5 square miles funnel into the area. And U.S. 70 is a major thoroughfare, he said.
He said the additional substation is needed because of the new neighborhoods that have been added in the coverage area. Places that used to just be wooded areas now have housing developments such as Paradise Harbor and Harbor Ridge.
The new station will have three truck bays, an office area and training room, as well as restrooms, Abee said.
Abee said the new substation is a collaborative effort.
The fire department will lease an acre of land from the town of Connelly Springs for a $1 a year, said Jeanine Barus, town clerk. The lease is for 35 years, she said.
The fire department leases the property its main station sits on from Valdese Hospital, Abee said.
He said the department has saved money to help build the substation but also will take out a partial loan on it.
Barus said the estimated cost for the substation on the zoning permit is $600,000. But, she said, the fire department is planning to use local labor and is hoping to complete the it below the estimate.
Connelly Springs Mayor Johnny Berry said the substation will put everyone in the town of Connelly Springs in the same fire tax rate. The tax rate is 8 cents per $100 of property value, Abee said.
Berry said he’s looking forward to the station being completed.
Abee said the target completion date for the station is late this year.
“We’re all excited about it. It’s going to help everybody,” Abee said. “It’s all about enhancing the quality of life of your communities and this certainly does that.”