Construction on the new Liberty/Dowelltown fire hall may soon begin after both Liberty and Dowelltown agreed on a lease proposal which was later approved by the DeKalb County Commission.

During a special-called meeting of the DeKalb County Commission last Monday night the lease agreement was approved for the property jointly owned by both towns. Both the Liberty and Dowelltown Boards of Mayor and Aldermen met and approved this lease agreement with the county last week.

The agreement is for 8.65 acres, on a 99-year lease for the price of $1. The property is the old Liberty/Dowelltown Park, off Highway 70 on West Main Street, which has not been used for many years. The DeKalb County Commission had already allocated $382,912 in ARP funding for the project pending the lease agreements.

The new fire hall is expected to improve firefighting and EMS services in the western portion of the county. Under the plan the current Liberty Fire Hall located in downtown Liberty will be replaced by the new Liberty/Dowelltown Fire Hall and the new station will house a fire engine and a tanker truck. The fire hall could also serve as an EMS satellite station subject to the wishes of the county commission.

“We (county) are leasing the entire site under a 99-year lease for a dollar,” said County Mayor Matt Adcock. “The Liberty City Council passed it with no opposition. The lease was signed by Liberty Mayor Audrey Martin and notarized by Charlotte Bratten, their secretary. The Dowelltown City Council adopted the lease and Vice Mayor Ron Griffith signed it in place of Mayor Pam Redmon, who has been in the hospital and was absent at the meeting. They too voted to approve it without opposition.”

“We will now move on and get together with our engineer and see about getting the contract signed with Tim Pedigo who was awarded the bid to do the construction,” Adcock continued.

The current building used by the DeKalb County Fire Department’s Liberty Station is too small to adequately house the station’s fire truck.  The station also has the second highest call volume in the department.

The bumpers of the engine nearly touch the wall and bay door, and the vehicle’s tanks have to be filled with water in order to be weighted down enough to clear the top of the bay door. The truck clears the top of the doorway by less than an inch. The new fire hall, will solve the department’s issues.

The design of the building will also add some more protection to the community. With three bays, the building will not only house Engine 65, but also one of the department’s tanker trucks. Tankers are used to ferry water to fire scenes where no hydrant is available, which is a larger portion of western DeKalb. With a tanker stationed at the fire hall, response times would be cut in half to fire calls in Alexandria, Liberty, Dowelltown and Temperance Hall.

The new facility would also have an added benefit. With three bays, the fire hall could house one of the DeKalb EMS day trucks, cutting EMS calls in half to that portion of the county.

Construction of the facility is expected to begin soon.