By STEPHEN DAWKINS

Staff Writer

A planned fire station should reduce response times to Shoal Creek and surrounding areas.

Cahaba Valley Fire and EMR announced the construction of Station 182, which will be located about a quarter of a mile north of the entrance of Shoal Creek off Dunnavant Valley Road, or Shelby County Hwy. 41.

The station will have entrances on 41 and directly into Shoal Creek, said Grant Wilkinson, public information officer for the fire department.

“The real intent of this is to get some faster response times to some of the communities out there that are experiencing some growth,” Wilkinson said. “We’re just trying to help bolster that side of the district.”

Communities to be covered by the new station include: Shoal Creek, Stone Gate Farms, The Shires, Hollybrook Lake, Smyers Lake,and Lake Wehapa, and Spring Stone.

Wilkinson said the department’s response time to the furthest point of this coverage area is 10 minutes, and the new station will allow for a projected response time of five minutes to the same area.

Coverage to much of the area listed above comes from the department’s Mt Laurel station.

The new station will house a rescue unit and fire engine.

Construction is expected to begin in late summer or early fall. After approval from the county is obtained, an open bid will be put out, followed by the beginning of construction.

Work could be completed by spring 2017.

Some details are still undecided, Wilkinson said, such as the size of the station and whether new staff members would be required to man the station.

A fire station bearing the same 182 designation originally opened as part of Shoal Creek and was run by volunteers.

Cahaba Valley started keeping a truck there in 1986 and maintained the station from 1991 until it closed in 2002.

Officials decided to keep the same 182 number for the new station.

For more information about Cahaba Valley Fire and EMR District, visit cahabavalleyfire.org or visit the department’s Facebook page at facebook.com/cvfemrd/.

For more information about Station 182, contact Chief Jim Witherington at (205) 408-7734 or jim.witherington@cahabavalleyfire.org.