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On Tuesday, Troup County Fire Chief Michael Strickland shared architectural designs for a potential new fire station. 

In recent months, Chief Strickland, along with County Manager Eric Mosley and others, has been working with an architect to create some potential designs for a fire station that Troup County could build in certain parts of the county.

Strickland said they settled on a traditional red brick fire station look with a shingle roof. The designs include a two-bay drive-thru concept, which would allow trucks to fully pull through the station without ever having to back up for safety purposes. The two bays allow for additional room for storage for trucks and trailers as needed.

The total square footage of the station is around 7,500 square feet, including the bay space.

Strickland said they went back and forth on how many sleeping areas the station should include from four to six. He said they ended up going with six, thinking of potential future needs.

“We’re trying to build a station here that can serve Troup County for 50-plus years. As we look into the future, hopefully, the Troup County Fire Department will grow and add staffing. Putting in six bunk rooms allows for future expansion for staffing,” Strickland said. “Based on how the EMS services go in Troup County, if there’s ever a time we put ambulances in the stations where they’re privately owned or county-owned, there would be plenty of space for the ambulance crews as well.”

The concept of a dormitory-style room where all the firefighters sleep is becoming a thing of the past, Strickland said. Each dorm room is just large enough to have a single twin bed, maybe a nightstand or a desk, and some lockers. 

“It’s not like a large room with a king bed and a private bath. It’s just large enough for a firefighter to sleep in comfortably at night with some privacy,” Strickland said.

Strickland said in the station where the shift commander is stationed, two of the dorms could be converted to a private bedroom and office for command staff.

The station will also have living space for when firefighters are off, along with a kitchen and a refrigerator for each shift.

Strickland said the station will also have a decontamination room where firefighters can come off a fire scene, drop their gear, and clean themselves off to make sure they’re washing all the contaminants off their bodies they may have picked up from a fire scene.

“We tried to come up with a station that’s both classic and modern looking. A lot of times, when jurisdictions build a fire station, they go into the neighborhood and try to build a fire station that kind of matches and correlates with the neighborhood. We don’t want to go into a residential neighborhood and build this ultra-modern style-looking fire station that just doesn’t match,” Strickland said.

As for potential new fire station locations, Strickland mentioned moving fire station one, which is less needed now that it is inside the city limits of LaGrange. 

“We’re looking at some sites further down Hamilton Road, toward the 185 interchange, down Bartley Road and Whitesville Road,” Strickland said.

“Another station we would probably relocate is Station 14, which is the station at the airport. Again, it’s a fire station in the city limits of Lagrange. Geographically, we need to push that out somewhere out Roanoke Road, Fling Road, down West Point Road, or something like that, so we can get it outside of the city and then really take advantage of the five-mile ISO radius,” he said.

Strickland said another idea is to build a new Station 9, which covers the Mountville area.

“I think our call volume certainly supports having a paid fire station out that way at some point over the next few years,” Strickland said.