Cobb County celebrates the opening of Fire Station 18

Chief Randy Crider addresses the crowd during the Fire Station 18 open house.

Representatives from Cobb County including Fire & Emergency Services Chief Randy Crider, Director of Public Safety Sam Heaton, Commission Chairman Mike Boyce and Deputy County Manager Dr. Jackie McMorris joined firefighters and the Cobb County Community to celebrate the grand opening of Fire Station 18 in Acworth.

During the opening ceremony, Chief Crider talked about how the new station will greatly benefit Acworth firefighters and thanked the community for their support. Director Heaton, Chairman Boyce and Deputy County Manager McMorris spoke to attendees about the importance of providing responsive and quick safety services to the community.

Officials then joined the community and station firefighters in a ceremonial “uncoupling of the hose”, a tradition wherein water flows from the hose for the first time in celebration of the new station opening.

The new station at Mars Hill Road, an upgrade from the former station that opened in 1970, was built to accommodate additional personnel and equipment. The new station includes a weight room, a stainless-steel kitchen, a day room, individual bunk rooms for each firefighter and a fueling center.

Officials join the community and station firefighters in a ceremonial “uncoupling of the hose”.

Unique to this station is the brick-paved parking lot installed as a solution to the lack of space for a storm-water management retention pond. Pond team members developed the creative solution of installing pavers above 29 inches of stone that house water underground allowing the water to slowly leach into the storm-water system and then into the storm-water pipe along Mars Hill Road.

Instead of a traditional roll-up door, Fire Station 18 also features six unique bifold fast-acting doors, a time-saver allowing emergency vehicles to exit the station more quickly and therefore increase emergency service response time.

“The improvements and innovations of this new station will allow the emergency services program in Acworth to provide a higher level of assistance to the community along with quicker response times,” said Program Manager Sam Smith. “We were proud to provide quality control, project, cost and schedule management services for the County and we hope the facility will attract new emergency service responders to the program and the community.”