Buckhead is due for several upgrades to its fire and rescue facilities according to a list of projects the city of Atlanta adopted in October.
The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department’s capital improvement plan includes $17.8 million worth of fire station upgrades for Fire Battalion 6, the area that covers Buckhead. All of the upgrades are planned for City Council District 8, represented by Councilwoman Yolanda Adrean.
Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran recently updated residents about several projects in the works, including one to replace a facility that the community raised money to fix.
Cochran on Feb. 7 told the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods about the fire department’s plans to replace older buildings. Fire Station 27, located on Northside Drive Northwest in Buckhead, was constructed in the 1950s. In 2008, neighbors raised $250,000 to improve the firefighters’ living quarters.
Cochran said the department will propose a replacement in 2017. He said the department is considering delaying the replacement because of the renovations, but that could be harmful to the community in the long run.
“We’ve got a few years to really wrestle with that, but I don’t think we should wait until we get it funded to have the conversation,” Cochran said.
Adrean attended the Feb. 7 meeting and said when the neighborhood began raising the money the improvements were about 10 years off.
“We didn’t want firefighters to wait that many years to live in clearly substandard conditions,” Adrean said. “It bought some time and we are all very attached.”
The estimated cost of replacing Fire Station 27 is $4.95 million, according to the city’s projects list.
Cochran also discussed plans to build a new fire station near Peachtree Battle Avenue in Fiscal Year 2016. The anticipated cost of that project is $4.95 million.
“We need a fire station in that location desperately,” Cochran said.
Other projects on the list are:
– Replacing Fire Station 26 at 2970 Howell Mill Road, NW. Cost: $4.14 million. Project description describes the facility’s current condition as “poor.”
– Replacing Fire Station 23 at 1545 Howell Mill Road, NE. Cost: $3.78 million. “This facility is too old and small to function as a fire station,” the project description says.