Fort Mill Fire Department gets thumbs up on new station

The Fort Mill Fire Department finally got the go ahead for a new fire station.

Fort Mill Town Council voted Oct. 12, after more than two years of discussion, to recommend upgrades for the substation at 1881 N. Dobys Bridge Road. The vote allows the department and town manager to bring more specific funding requests.

Interim Chief Chipper Wilkerson told council members the former residence his department uses can become a full station for about $750,000. A new station would cost about $1.3 million, plus the land. The upfit would include a two-bay apparatus site that could hold up to a ladder truck.

In February, then fire Chief Jeff Hooper told council members his department was looking into options for a new station, including the upgrades to the Dobys Bridge Road site and new construction nearby. In June, Wilkerson said he’d contact design-build firms to get construction estimates. Council members deferred a request in June that would have allowed the town manager to begin negotiations with firms.

Councilwoman Lisa McCarley cast the only vote against the move Oct. 12. Councilwoman Guynn Savage wasn’t present. McCarley said she once drove a school bus and knows how hard it can be turning a large vehicle onto a highway from a residential driveway. She wanted to look and see if there were site options along Fort Mill Parkway.

“My questions aren’t me thinking you’re not doing a good job,” she told firefighters. “It’s due diligence.”

Other council members pointed to a time crunch. The fire department has an ISO review set for the end of the year, where call times and distance between structures and fire departments will impact the department’s safety score. New homes in Riverchase and Massey phase three will fall outside the 5-mile mark needed to avoid the worst possible score.

“They’re under construction now,” said Joe Cronin, planning director.

Wilkerson said he contacted two insurance companies, and both use ISO scores to determine rates. The difference in falling inside or outside the 5-mile mark could mean doubled insurance rates, he said, and ISO evaluators automatically downgrade the score based on that distance.

“It is make or break on the 5-mile mark,” Wilkerson said.

More pressing than insurance rates, he said, are response times. In recent years they are on the rise.

“It has,” Wilkerson said. “As a whole, slightly, but in certain areas it’s pretty large. Our footprint has increased. The town has grown.”

With so much new residential construction along the Dobys Bridge Road corridor, response times are “increasingly more important” especially during peak traffic hours, he said.

“That’s only going to continue,” Wilkerson said. “The drive times are going to increase.”

The department already is looking toward a third station in the Springfield Parkway area, though plans haven’t been presented. The department is taking it a step at a time.

“Our community cannot be served by one station,” Wilkerson said. “It’s just not possible. Station 2 is a must.”

Dennis Pieper, town manager, said the town as it sits and with known development plans should see adequate coverage with three stations.

“It might change,” he said, “but I don’t think dramatically.”

With three stations, Wilkerson estimates response times at fewer than seven minutes.

The estimate for upgrading the Dobys Bridge site didn’t include space for a police substation, something the town would expect if a new station were built. Pieper said even a small space on-site for the police department would help, and likely could be figured into final construction.

“You could make some provisions to do something,” he said.

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 12:27 PM with the headline "Fort Mill Fire Department gets thumbs up on new station."