H’ville fire chief says more fire stations being considered in Limestone

Published 6:15 am Wednesday, April 11, 2018

As the corporate limits of Huntsville continues to grow into Limestone County, there is a greater need for police and fire protection for homes and businesses.

During a tour of the future Toyota-Mazda production facility in January, Huntsville Mayor and Republican gubernatorial candidate Tommy Battle said there were still issues to be resolved, including how public safety would be affected by continued growth.

Battle said the city’s long-range plan includes additional fire and police precincts and personnel, which has been looked at “for a number of years.”

Huntsville Fire Chief Howard “Mac” McFarlen said discussions about additional Huntsville Fire & Rescue stations in Limestone County have been ongoing, but no specific timeline has been established. He anticipates funding for one or more stations to be included in future capital plans.

“We’re going to have to build one near County Line Road and U.S. 72 West,” he said. “We’ll probably have to put one toward Swancott.”

Huntsville’s only fire station in Limestone County on Greenbrier Road stays busy because of its proximity to Interstate 565.

“We work a lot of accidents out of that station,” McFarlen said.

There are four firefighters who staff the station at any given time. McFarlen said the station’s modular design means it can be expanded in the future to house more personnel and a bay for a ladder truck.

“Most of the buildings are flat, but insurance underwriters want you to have a ladder truck within a certain area,” he said. “We saw where a lot of the growth was going, so I can project we’ll probably have a ladder truck at Greenbrier (in the future). That area is going to continue to explode.”

Officials say it isn’t just businesses and industries that are interested in Huntsville-annexed Limestone County. Mark Yarbrough, chairman of the County Commission, said housing developers want to be where the growth is, too.

Yarbrough said realtors have told him land values have increased by as much as 10 percent since the Toyota-Mazda announcement was made. He’s also talked to an increasing number of developers interested in building housing developments near future jobs.

McFarlen said the need of additional fire stations would be determined by emergency call volume and population. Being evenly covered is what’s most important to McFarlen and the Insurance Service Office, which assigns ratings to fire departments. Those ratings play a substantial role in what homeowners pay for insurance.

“We’re thankful for the growth and we’re trying to stay in front of the demand for service,” he said. “This area is obviously on the front-burner as far as development goes.”