North Augusta firefighters 'excited to come to work' at new fire station

It's been a long-time coming, but North Augusta finally has a new "Fire Station 1," and the firefighters are pumped for the opportunities it provides.

After spending over 60 years at their spot on East Buena Vista Avenue, firefighters moved into their new place on West Martintown Road on Oct. 13. The city celebrated with a ribbon cutting last week.

The Augusta Chronicle toured the new facility on Tuesday, and were met by North Augusta Public Safety Lt. Junior Johnson, Fire Sgt. Daniel Smith, and firefighter James Newman III.

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Smith is in charge of the new fire station and said this is not only going to be a big help to their work, but it's also a huge morale boost.

"You move into any kind of station like this and you're excited to come to work," he said. "It's kind of like going back to my rookie years."

This project has been in the works since 2017, with a groundbreaking in January 2021 and costing almost $4 million of funding from the city's Capital Projects Sales Tax 3. The building is more than 10,000 square feet and sits on almost 3 aces of land positioned within less than a mile of the very busy Knox and Georgia avenues.

Details on the new digs

Newman said he's a big fan of the location, with much easier access to the community and where everything is going on.

Smith said his favorite part is that they are now able to have a ladder truck for servicing high rise buildings and large stores. This is made possible by the spacious garage big enough to house three fire trucks with enough extra space to pull in other vehicles and fix them up when they are in need of maintenance. There are also powerful fans and heaters attached to the ceiling when the weather gets severe.

Johnson said that at the old fire station they had much smaller bays, with no extra space, and it was so cramped that they had to back in their trucks whenever returning to the station. When a vehicle needed maintenance, Smith, who also runs fleet maintenance, needed to work on them outside under the hot sun.

Just off to the side of the new garage are some amenities promoting safety and sanitation, including a storage room for firefighter gear, an industrial washing machine extractor for washing suits that have been used in the field, and a bathroom including a shower.

All of these features allow firefighters to immediately sanitize themselves of the carcinogens associated with firefighting before heading into the living quarters, something they were unable to do at the last station.

When not putting out flames, there are four bunk rooms, a bathroom with showers separate from the one used for decontamination, a lounge area and a fully equipped kitchen. All of it is built with a very modern look and a comfortable feel.

Smith said, going forward, he wants to ensure the locals that he and the firefighters will be "the best neighbors," are committed to meshing into the area, and being responsible with what they have been given.

"We have an image to maintain in this place," he said. "This is taxpayer money we're in, and we got to maintain it as such ... keep the place in good working order."

North Augusta Public Safety's next big project is their new public safety headquarters, which are expected to break ground before the New Year.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: North Augusta firefighters love new West Martintown Road fire station