Hoover’s Fire Station No. 9, located in the Greystone Legacy community, officially began taking calls last Friday.

Greystone already had a fire station, Station No. 8, but another one was needed because of the rapid development, said Fire Chief Tom Bradley.

“In order to have a good response time for our residents, we needed to have a fire station both for firefighting and for emergency medical problems,” Bradley said. “We’re trying to anticipate before anything happens.”

The new station is located on Greystone Legacy Drive. Station No. 8 is off of Hugh Daniel Drive, which put it too far away from the new houses in the Greystone Legacy community.

“If people have a fire or medical emergency, we can be there in one to four minutes, whereas before it could have taken us up to six or eight minutes,” Bradley said.

The new station has one fire engine and three firefighters on duty at all times.

Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos said the new station gives the city’s fire services a larger presence.

“Whenever we have a major incident where we’re fighting a fire or a disaster, whatever’s going on, this gives us an opportunity to have a better presence in the eastern part of Hoover,” Petelos said. “It’s going to directly affect the residents of Greystone and the Shelby County area of Hoover by giving us a backup fire station.”

Petelos said the city plans another fire station in a few years near to Stadium Trace Parkway, near to Regions Park.