Information from WYSH Radio
Workers are building an expansion of the Clinton Fire Department’s headquarters that will create a place where three on-duty firefighters can stay during their shifts, including a sleeping area, a kitchen, a day room, and both men’s and women’s bathrooms. The expansion will also create a new office for the Fire Department.
Officials said that expanding the headquarters and creating space for on-call firefighters to remain on the premises should cut down on response times on the western side of the city.
Clinton Fire Chief Archie Brummitt said the department conducted a study of fire hall locations with the Municipal Technical Advisory Service—or MTAS—several months ago that determined that the majority of the calls answered by the department are centered in and around Clinton’s downtown area. The study showed that response times from Fire Station No. 1 on Longmire Road to emergencies by the interstate were within about five minutes or so on average. Officials had talked for several years about building a new fire station near the interstate but, with the findings of the study, determined that the new station can wait while development on that end of town increases.
Brummitt said that current response times on calls to locations like Mariner Point and Weaver Street, to name two, average about seven to eight minutes from Fire Station No. 2 in South Clinton, but with the expansion currently under way, those response times could be cut by two to three minutes per call, which in an emergency situation can make all the difference.
The expansion is expected to be finished and open for business sometime this summer.
Information in this story brought to you through an agreement between Oak Ridge Today and WYSH. See more local news headlines on the WYSH website at http://www.wyshradio.com/local_news.html.
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