News

County breaks ground on new home for those who run toward danger

Turning dirt for a new EMS Station 6 are Fletcher Mayor Preston Blakely, EMS Assistant Supervisor Tyler Upton, Commissioner Daniel Andreotta, County Manager John Mitchell, and commissioners David Hill, Bill Lapsley and Rebecca McCall.

By Bill Moss, Published: September 6, 2023

Henderson County commissioners, Fletcher's elected leaders, emergency personnel and hospital administrators on Wednesday applauded a groundbreaking for a new EMS station to house first responders who "run into what everyone else runs away from to serve and to save lives."

Two commissioners touted the new ambulance station on the Fletcher Elementary School campus on Howard Gap Road as an important addition to the county's emergency response system, given that it will serve the growing Fletcher, Hoopers Creek and North Henderson communities.

“For us to be able to provide this for this area is very exciting and what made it even more exciting was we already had the land," County Commission Chair Rebecca McCall. "The land was already here and available, so that just lowered the cost of doing this that much more. … The school system welcomed us as a neighbor to the Fletcher Elementary School and I hope that there will be a lot of interaction between the two groups.”

In an invocation, Commissioner Daniel Andreotta prayed for the first responders who will work out of the new station.

"Thank you for the men and women who, when the alarm goes off, they jump and they run into what everyone else runs away from, to serve and to save lives," he said.

Like McCall, Andreotta noted the savings the taxpayers got because the school land was owned by the county.

"We saved the taxpayers an exorbitant amount of money to otherwise go out and secure land to house this facility," he said. "There was a lot of work, a lot of conversations, a lot of map reading, a lot of driving by looking at sites and trying to figure out the best place to put it. If everything could work out this well and have this kind of outcome we would all have great days.”

Chris Burns, district director for U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, read a letter from his boss congratulating the Board of Commissioners on the start of construction.

“The expansion of this facility in our Fletcher community will mean that residents can sleep better knowing that they will have an emergency response vehicle station here 24 hours a day," Edwards wrote. "When we are in our moment of need, seconds matter, and having this station located and equipped in this community will make a difference to our citizens and to Henderson County."

Burns followed a folklore winter forecast with the "silver lining" the station represents.

“As I was driving in I was looking at the fog hanging over the mountains and it reminded me of something my grandfather used to tell me when I was growing up," he said. "He would say that for every fog you have like this in August, you're going to have a snow day in January or February. I hear you moaning, but isn’t it glorious to know that within a year or so you're gonna have something here that's going to help when we have those emergencies when those snows do come.”

Plans for EMS Station 6 go back to 2019, when then-County Manager Steve Wyatt directed county staffers to find a site in the Fletcher area to house a 24-7 ambulance crew. Last year, commissioners appropriated $3.1 million in American Rescue Plan money for the project, including $1.23 million for design and $1.95 million for construction. The 5,100-square-foot station on an acre and a half will include four ambulance bays, two sleeping rooms, a shared bathroom, a common lounge area, a communications room, exercise room, utility or laundry room and storage. The single-story pre-engineered metal building will incorporate masonry veneer with the exterior metal panels. Basing an ambulance crew in Fletcher 24 hours a day, county officials said, means other EMS units can remain in their districts, resulting in quicker response times countywide.