SIMCOE – It’s been a long time in the making, but on Saturday, May 21 the new Berlin/Fairview Volunteer Fire & Rescue Station 3 will officially open for business. There will be a grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. at the station, located at Alabama Highway 69 North and County Road 1651.
The station is the first of its kind in Cullman County, housing not one, but two volunteer fire departments. The land for the station was donated by Merchants Bank, with half deeded to Berlin and half to Fairview. Each department also received a $15,000 grant from Cullman County Economic Development.
Berlin Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ralph Laney said that the project had just begun around the time of the April 2011 tornadoes, and the work slowed after that as the departments’ resources were needed elsewhere in their communities.
Now, though, the work is complete. Laney said that approximately $120,000 has gone into the building- $39,000 for the concrete work, retaining walls and floor, $50,000 for the building, $11,000 for the bay doors, $9,200 for electrical work and the rest for miscellaneous finishing jobs.
“We just finished up sealing the concrete floor last night,” he said.
Laney said there were a lot of people involved in making this happen, including Cullman County Economic Development Director Cherrie Haney and Project Coordinator Ashley Graves and many others.
He is especially proud of the station being run by two departments and the positive impact it will have on community residents.
“I’m glad that we got to do this because it will be the first in Cullman County to go together and share a station. It will help homeowners in the area with their insurance premiums. Fairview and Berlin (VFDs) both have an ISO 5 rating, so it should be saving people quite a bit on their homeowner’s insurance,” he said.
The community is invited to come out for the grand opening on Saturday, May 21. Laney and Fairview Volunteer Fire Department Chief Doug Williams will be there, along with the volunteer firefighters, as well as representatives from Merchants Bank and Cullman County Economic Development and others. Hamburgers and hot dogs will be served.
In addition to this new, shared station 3, both VFDs also have two stations of their own in their respective communities.
