FAXON – To fill a service gap in the northeastern part of the county, Calloway County Fire-Rescue is in the process of building its 13th station.
CCFR Chief Tommy Morgan said the station, which is around the 5000 block of Faxon Road about two miles east of KY 1346/Liberty Road, will be called the Center Ridge station and will be equipped with a pumper truck, tanker truck, brush truck and a boat. Currently, the steel frame has been erected, and Morgan said that when the station is completed and staffed, its location should greatly improve the Insurance Rating Office (ISO) fire rating for homes in that area near Kentucky Lake. ISO fire ratings are assigned on a scale from 1 to 10, and higher ratings typically mean higher homeowners insurance premiums.
“We’ve got an area along the lake from Blood River north up the side of the lake area along the east side of the county (without a nearby station),” Morgan said. “Everything else in the county is rated a 6 on the ISO insurance rating, which gives you a cheaper insurance rate for your homes and property. This (13th station) should be a 6 when it’s completed; it should change (nearby residents) from a 10 to a 6.”
Morgan said CCFR was fortunate to receive the property through a donation, but the organization has been trying to collect donations to help offset the cost of the building. Most of the equipment that will go in the building has already been purchased, he said.
“We started this back in 2019 just before COVID hit, so that really hurt us on being able to do a whole lot to try to raise money for it,” Morgan said. “Normally in the past when we’ve been getting ready to build a station, the community usually comes up with so much money for that particular station, and then we pay for the rest. But this one’s struggled, and I think a lot of it has to do with COVID since we just haven’t been able to … hold a lot of activities or set up (outside businesses in the community) to try to raise money. Nobody wanted to go house-to-house to meet people or try to solicit funds (during COVID).”
Morgan said the original construction budget for the station was $100,000, but with the supply chain issues and inflation that started during the pandemic, that number has ballooned to $160,000.
“It’s gone up considerably since we built the last station,” Morgan said. “And that’s with no equipment in it; we’ve got to put another $300,000 to $400,000 worth of trucks and equipment in it once it’s built. It takes a whole lot of money to do this.”
Morgan said CCFR is not actively fundraising right now, but anyone wanting to donate toward the station’s construction may send a check to Calloway County-Fire Rescue, P.O. Box 612, with a letter in the envelope stating the purpose or “Station 13” written on the memo line of the check. Morgan said CCFR has raised about $30,000 for the building’s construction since 2019, about half of which came from a gun raffle.
“It is tax deductible if somebody wants to donate, but we will not have anybody calling or coming door-to-door right now asking for money, so if somebody starts that type of scam or something, that’s not us,” Morgan cautioned.
Phillips Custom Building is working on the project, and Morgan said he hopes to be able to turn on power and move into the building within a couple of months, though the groundwork will likely take longer to complete. Just as important as the building and equipment, though, are the firefighters needed to staff it, so Morgan said CCFR is looking for volunteers in the northeastern area of the county.
“We’ve got a station, but the whole point of having the station there is having people who are able to respond to that station quick and getting trucks out, so we need some new members,” Morgan said. “I’ve only got one or two existing members right now that are even close to that area, so it would be nice to have some new members.”
Morgan said that while the station obviously needs able-bodied volunteers to fight fires, but that is far from the only task a CCFR member can do. Anyone wanting to volunteer and become a member is welcome and can be put to work in some capacity, Morgan said.
“We don’t just need a building or property, we need volunteers, which is honestly sometimes the hardest part to come by,” Morgan said. “We do need volunteers, and I know there’s a lot of retired people (in the northeast area) – they don’t have to fight fires and they don’t have to go inside a house fire. We need people that are capable of driving and operating the trucks; we need all types. If there’s people who are retired and would like to help … come talk to us. We’ll sit down and explain everything that’s required and what’s not required.”
Anyone who has any questions at all or might potentially be interested in becoming a member – whether at Station 13 or any other – is encouraged to call Station 1 at 270-753-4112 and ask to speak to either Morgan or Assistant Chief Zach Stewart.
Morgan said the station is coming along at the right time because CCFR’s activity continues to increase each year.
“2022 was the busiest year we’ve had,” Morgan said. “We ran 729 calls. We don’t run medical calls … which is usually what drives up a fire department’s numbers. They’re all fire department-type calls. In the years past, we just barely broke 600, so we were over well over 100 calls more than what we normally do in 2022.”
Morgan said the majority of those calls are for vehicle collisions, but the drought over the summer and fall also increased the number of field and woods fire calls CCFR received. He said volunteers also responded to about 30 structure fires.
