The Highlands Board of Commissioners got its first look at the town’s newest addition on Thursday night when Highlands Fire Chief Ryan Gearhart threw open the doors at the new fire station on Franklin Road.
The $8 million facility is close to completion and the department is looking forward to settling into their new digs.
“What this new station does is it sets us up for the next several decades with room to grow as needed,” Gearhart said. “When we began this process, we didn’t want to build a fire station to suit our department in 2022, we wanted to build a station that would be able to accommodate the department in 2042, 2052, and so on.”
Technology, efficiency and elbow room were all major focuses during the planning and construction phase.
The new station will have room for 12 trucks in the truck bay. One of the major innovations in the bay area is a heated floor, which Gearhart pointed out makes the building more energy efficient and user-friendly.
“Having heat come up from the floor keeps the building much warmer, even when we set the thermostat to a lower temperature,” Gearhart said. “For example, it’s in the 20’s outside right now, we have the thermostat on 64, and feels nice and warm in here. The heated floor is also an asset when we bring trucks back from calls in the winter and they are covered in snow, ice and road slush, because it thaws the underside of the truck very quickly and makes it easy to get that truck ready to head to the next call.”
The lower level of the new station features a large meeting and training room, restrooms and a commercial kitchen, along with a reception area and an office for Gearhart and assistant chief Robbie Forrester.
On the second floor, there is an additional office space, a workout/fitness room, additional restrooms with showers, a living room with a kitchenette, and five individual bunk rooms.
“When we go to full time 24/7 fire coverage, that means firefighters will be sleeping here, and that means a whole new set of needs in terms of the building,” Gearhart said. “Each individual bunk room will have a twin bed, a closet that is split into three sections (one for each shift) and a dresser with three drawers. Each room also has its own thermostat, so there won’t be any fighting about it being too hot or too cold.”
Gearhart envisions firefighters working 24-hour shifts once the department goes to fulltime fire coverage. Firefighters will be split into shift’s A, B and C, which is why many of the common areas of the new department have spaces separated in thirds.
One feature of the new department drew Mayor Patrick Taylor’s attention immediately – there is a shiny gold fire pole connecting the two stories.
“I imagine that before you all installed this you looked into the usefulness of it and the insurance impact of having a pole,” Taylor asked.
Gearhart noted that he did contact several other fulltime fire departments and learned that having a fire pole was actually a safer alternative to having firefighters run down flights of stairs, especially at night.
“If it’s used correctly, the fire pole is the fastest and safest way to respond to a call, especially if that call comes in at 3 a.m. and people are waking up and trying to rush out of here,” Gearhart said. “One of the departments we talked to actually said they had more injuries on their stairs over the past several years than they have had on the fire pole.”
Gearhart noted that once Highlands has fulltime firefighter coverage response times will be greatly reduced.
“Right now, if a call comes in late at night, I get up, throw my clothes on, get in my vehicle and come to the station, and I can have a truck rolling in about five-six minutes,” Gearhart said. “If we have a firefighter here on site, they can get out of bed, put their boots on and have a truck rolling in one-two minutes.”
“One of my biggest pet peeves has always been when a late call comes in, at say Wildcat Cliffs, and Cashiers Fire Department beats us there,” Gearhart said. “They have fulltime 24/7 staff coverage, so their truck is rolling in one minute and we have to get to the station before we can even get a truck rolling.”
While the new building is almost complete, there are still multiple inspections that have to be completed before a certificate of occupancy can be issued. A final construction checklist will precede an inspection by Macon County, then an inspection by the NC Fire Marshall’s Office. If all goes as planned, the department could have a certificate of occupancy as early as Friday.
“Once we can actually move in to this building and bring all of our equipment over, we will have a public dedication and open house,” Gearhart said. “Depending on the logistics, and the weather, we may end up waiting until spring for that event, but we’ll see.”