Chief proposes new fire hall to replace Liberty Station

April 18, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

Should a portion of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) grant funding be allocated to build a new three bay Liberty/Dowelltown fire hall to improve fire and EMS services in the western portion of the county?

The county commission will soon be asked to consider it based on a proposal by county Fire Chief Donny Green.

Under the plan, Chief Green said the current Liberty Fire Hall located in downtown Liberty would be replaced by a new Liberty/Dowelltown Fire Hall to be constructed on an 8.65 acre site formerly known as the old Liberty/Dowelltown Park off Highway 70 on West Main Street, owned by both municipalities, which is no longer in use. Chief Green said the site is not in a flood plain and is quite suitable for a fire hall. Chief Green said he believes such a facility could be built for less than $300,000 using American Rescue Plan Act funding. The boards of mayor and aldermen in both towns have been consulted about the idea and have embraced it with the possibility of entering into a 99 year lease agreement with the county for a dollar, should the county be willing to make such a deal. The county has a similar lease arrangement in place with a landowner where the Austin Bottoms Community Fire Hall is located.

Green said the idea for a new fire hall arose recently after it was discovered that the existing fire station at Liberty is not big enough, both in height and lengthwise, to adequately house the newest fire truck, a 2021 model freightliner demo truck, assigned to that location. Plus, Green said the county is going to have to make some needed asphalt repairs in the front of the Liberty Fire Hall if it is to remain in operation.

“We started out with the whole idea of wanting to request a new station after we got the new fire engine in Liberty under the Rural Development Grant. The new truck fits in the fire hall but its very tight and we have to make sure the truck is loaded with water before we can back it through the bay because of the height limitations on the bay door. Even with it full of water we only have a one inch clearance on the height and when the truck is backed in the front bumper is against the door so you have to raise the door to get in the truck. The Liberty Fire Hall building was constructed in 1975 and at the time our fire trucks were a lot smaller. Today, fire trucks are being built bigger so its simply not adequate for us to house this new fire truck at the existing Liberty Fire Hall or any that we may get in the future because the new ones are going to be tight in there,” said Chief Green.

It also makes more sense to put funds toward a new fire hall rather than to spend money on the existing Liberty station, according to Green.

“We looked at doing some asphalt repair there where it has sunken in front of the fire hall and we have some money in the budget to do that but when this ARP money came about we felt like it would be better to find another site for a new fire hall rather than spend a lot of money on a 47 year old station that will need five or six thousand dollars worth of asphalt work in front of it,” Chief Green continued.

A new larger fire hall could also better serve especially the western portion of the county including the greater Dowelltown, Liberty, and Alexandria areas (first and second districts) by housing not only a fire truck but a tanker truck and possibly a day truck ambulance, should the county commission decide to approve such a proposal. According to the 2020 Census, 5,551 of the county’s 20,080 total population resides in the first and second districts.

The county currently has one tanker truck, centrally located at the main station on King Ridge Road, but another tanker is coming this summer funded largely under a Community Development Block Grant.

“When you get outside the city limits of Dowelltown, Liberty, and Alexandria, we just have very few hydrants so we need a tanker down there. Currently we have one tanker that serves the whole county and we have it in the center part of the county but if we had another one in the western end of the county that would give us a quicker response time and provide more water supply,” said Chief Green.

A new Liberty/Dowelltown Fire Hall could also serve as an EMS satellite station.

“As we were considering the proposal for a new two bay fire hall, we got the idea for including a third bay to provide an option for the EMS to house a satellite station for one of their day truck ambulances at least weekdays to provide emergency services . Adding the third bay would not be too much more expensive than a two bay fire hall, and it would cut response time in half on an emergency call in the western portion of the county. At the back of the third bay could be a small sitting area maybe with a couch, chair, TV, and a place for EMS personnel to do their paper work. With 450 students at DeKalb West School during the week; along with the three towns of Dowelltown, Liberty, and Alexandria, and the rural population, it really makes sense to have an EMS satellite station there. EMS currently has three trucks on staff during the day time so it would not require any additional personnel or ambulances to operate it,” said Chief Green.

Plans are also still in the making for future development of a fire station in the Wolf Creek community. A total of $75,000 in seed money has been set aside by the county commission for the project but as yet no location has been selected for a fire hall there and not enough volunteers have committed to help staff it.

“The Wolf Creek Station is not off the radar, said Chief Green. We are still looking to do that. The reason we want to do this project (Liberty/Dowelltown Fire Hall) ahead of Wolf Creek is because we have ARP money and a building site for it and this fire hall would add more benefit right now than just building one station because it allows us to put the tanker down there and an EMS satellite station so we are looking at a bigger picture and we have trained firefighters there. I don’t yet have but one fire fighter at Wolf Creek and we do not yet have a site identified. The county set aside $25,000 in the 2020-21 budget year for Wolf Creek and another $25,000 in 2021-22. I also added $25,000 out of the sale of fire department surplus equipment so we have $75,000 setting there obligated to Wolf Creek. We still have to identify a building site centrally and strategically located there to provide the biggest five mile coverage area so people can get the benefit on their homeowners insurance premium,” said Chief Green.

April 18, 2022
By:

The Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce and the DeKalb County Mayor’s office would like to invite residents across the county to participate in the DeKalb County Clean Up on Saturday, May 14th. You are encouraged to form teams at your work, neighborhood, or organization, then post pictures with the name of your team to the Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber or DeKalb Clean Up Facebook Page.

The DeKalb Clean Up event will be held in conjunction with the Keep America Beautiful initiative going on across the country. This year’s theme “Trashercise Across Tennessee” promotes exercise while picking up trash.

DeKalb Clean Up volunteers are asked to stop by the DeKalb County Complex on May 14th between 9 AM and 10 AM to sign-in and pick up the provided trash bags, rubber gloves, and bottles of water. A group picture will be taken at 9:30 AM for the media if you like to participate in that. If you can’t be there to sign-in, call the Chamber office at 615-597-4163 to be counted as a DeKalb Clean Up volunteer — just give your name and the general area where you will be working.

The Great American Clean Up takes place annually with an estimated 500,000 volunteers taking part in 15,000 community events nationwide through programs that deliver positive and lasting impact through events focused on waste reduction, recycling, beautification, and community greening.

County Mayor Tim Stribling says, “We invite people to come out and help clean up around our communities and highways. Folks are welcome to pick up litter at places of their choice, or we will be glad to assign a safe place for you.”

Suzanne Williams, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce, would like to remind everyone that DeKalb County’s peak tourism season is about to begin, so now is a great time to start getting things spruced up for our coming visitors. According to Williams, “Working together, we can better ensure that our public places are beautiful and healthy spaces.”

To get a head start on clean up, dumpsters will be set up at highly visible and convenient locations a few days prior to the main event. Dumpster locations will be at the Dowelltown Community Center, Liberty Community Center, Alexandria City Parking Lot (behind square), and the DeKalb County Complex parking lot.

Whether you’re cleaning up around a street, a highway, park, ball field, stream, or your own home, what a difference we can make through working together to make our communities safer, healthier and more livable! Don’t Just Sit There…Do Something Beautiful

April 18, 2022
By: Leigh Fuson, 4-H Agent

The DeKalb County 4-H Horse Judging teams had a very successful day at the Central Region and open MTSU contests held at the Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro. All 3 teams placed in the top ten, with the Senior High Team placing 1st.

The Junior (4th & 5th grades) team of Natalia Johnson, Kenzie South, and Lydia Wright placed 9th. In the Junior High (6th-8th grades) division, Carsyn Beshearse, Izayah Dowell, and Trinity Young placed 9th overall but 3rd in the performance category. Our high school team of Sydney Ailes, Riley Fuson, and Hannah Redmon took top honors. Hannah also placed 9th individually. They will be heading to the State contest in Shelbyville in late June.

During the event, youth put their decision-making skills and horse knowledge to the test. Contestants watched four performance (riding) classes that included hunter under saddle, Walking Horse pleasure, horsemanship, hunt seat equitation, and ranch riding. The horses in each class were ranked 1-4 based on specific criteria needed for that discipline of riding. Three halter, or conformation, classes were also judged. These horses were judged on muscling, structure, and balance. After ranking the horses, the 4-H’ers’ decision was compared to that of the official judge, and a score was awarded. Senior high 4-Hers have an added challenge of giving oral reasons to defend why they placed the class the way they did.

Teams practiced several times and even attended a mock contest at MTSU before the contest. They worked hard and represented DeKalb County very well. To learn more about horse judging, or any 4-H activity, please contact the DeKalb County Extension Office at 615-597-4945.

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