Walton County Fire and Emergency Services announced Wednesday that the new Fire Station 3 is now opening and operating. It is located on Highway 81/Leone Avenue at Guthrie Cemetery Road at the old Corn Dawgs site.
WCFR Station 3, previously located in the center of Walnut Grove next to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office precinct, has been combined with WCFR station 12, previously located near Centerville Church Road and Highway 81. According to WCFR Chief Mike Moore, a new Fire Station 12 will be constructed on site at the Hard Labor Creek reservoir at some time in the future.
Fire Station 3 is a 6,300-square-foot facility featuring two bays housing one new fire engine, one district truck, and one ambulance. A total of five personnel man this station 24/7, including one firefighter assigned to the fire engine, one firefighter and one captain assigned to the district truck, and one paramedic and one EMT assigned to the ambulance.
At the ribbon cutting of the new fire station in June, attendees pushed the new truck into the new station. As tradition goes, early fire engines were hand drawn engines, ladder wagons and horse drawn carts so there was no other way to get them into a fire station but by pushing them. Although the horse drawn steam engine could be backed in by firefighters, that too was difficult so the horses were separated from the engine and these engines also were pushed back into the station by hand. While this is no longer necessary, tradition has firefighters continuing to do this just once when a new engine is first put into commission. It is a way to honor old and former members of the department and to display unity among current members.
Click or tap on the Youtube link below to see a video of the June ribbon cutting courtesy of Darrell Everidge of Walton Entertainment.
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