If all goes as expected, there will be two volunteer fire stations to serve the Watkins community by next summer.
Watkins Chief Brandon Link said the department has received $550,000 and will use most of the money – $400,000 – to construct a new station.
Link said the site for the new station is still being hammered out, but most likely will be in the general area of Stratford Hills along U.S. Hwy 158.
“We’re trying to get ahead before any type of growth really hit us in Watkins,” Link said on Monday’s TownTalk. The Watkins fire district covers the Dabney area, and the second station will cut response times and, therefore, have a positive effect on resident’s fire insurance rates.
Link said N.C. Sen. Lisa Barnes had been most helpful in securing the funding, which was initiated a few years ago with then-N.C. Rep. Frank Sossamon.
Watkins has enjoyed good financial support from the community over the years, and the department’s gotten other funding in the past, “but never this amount of money at one time,” Link said.
The new building, which will be about 6,000 square feet, will have room for fire apparatus, as well as a commons area, bathrooms and a meeting space. They’ll use some of the money for furnishings for the new station, but Link said money also will be spent to remodel the current station on Horseshoe Bend Road.
“It will not go out of operation,” Link said of the existing station, that he hopes will be around another 40 years once remodeling is complete.
“We’ll be operating two fully functioning fire stations, hopefully by next summer.”
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