Groundbreaking for new Liberty County fire station

LIBERTY COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - People in Midway will see some big fire department changes soon. Liberty County officials broke ground on a new county fire station Friday.

Construction is already underway for Liberty County’s Fire Station One. Officials say this project is years in the making.

The new location on East Oglethorpe Highway in Midway will become the headquarters for Liberty County Fire Services. It will house seven fire trucks, 12 firefighters, administrative offices, the training division, and the fire marshal’s office.

Officials say this location is in a critical spot for the county.

“The original fire plan was done about 15 years ago by Liberty County. It specified station locations where these stations needed to be set. So, it’s finally good to be here,” Liberty County administrator Joey Brown said.

The project is expected to cost more than $8 million, and is funded through American Rescue Plan Act dollars, local sales tax, and some private funds. The building will be around 24,000 square feet.

Chief Brian Darby says it’ll be a game changer for response times.

“This is going to drastically change response times. Approximately right now, the fire station responsible for this area would be about a 15 minute response time because of where they’re traveling from. This will drastically change that response time, so it’ll be about six to eight minutes,” Chief Darby said.

Chief Darby says this fire station should improve the insurance rating of surrounding homes as well.

The project is expected to be completed sometime in July.

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