Hampton is finally getting its firehouse back on track. Henry County officials gathered Wednesday to break ground on a long-planned replacement for Fire Station 5, a $4.2 million project at the intersection of Georgia 20 and McDonough Street. The new building will stand in for the previous station, which the county shut down in 2023 over safety and health concerns.
Groundbreaking And Site
FOX 5 Atlanta covered the ceremony, noting that the project is funded through SPLOST V and will sit in downtown Hampton. Henry County Fire Rescue Chief Pat Wilson told attendees the modern station should improve response times for a growing slice of the county, the outlet reported.
Contract And Funding
The county had already signed off on a construction contract to rebuild Station 5, awarding J.R. Bowman Construction a roughly $4.22 million bid, The Henry Reporter reported. SPLOST V originally budgeted about $3 million for the project, and commissioners approved a supplemental budget amendment to close the funding gap, according to the local outlet.
Why The Rebuild Moved Up
The existing Station 5, which was built in 1996 on Elm Street, was closed in April 2023 after county officials raised health and safety concerns, and crews were temporarily reassigned to other stations, Atlanta News First reported. Subsequent coverage noted that personnel were staged at a hangar at Atlanta Speedway Airport while planners worked to secure a permanent site.
What It Means For Residents
County leaders are pitching the rebuild as a back-to-basics move to restore frontline services to downtown Hampton and nearby corridors where new subdivisions have been popping up. Chief Pat Wilson said the updated layout and extra apparatus bays should trim valuable minutes off emergency runs as the area keeps growing, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
Timeline And Next Steps
To keep things moving, the county plans to reuse the design from Fire Station 6 and expects design and construction to take a little more than a year, according to local reporting. Officials at the groundbreaking did not commit to a firm reopening date but said crews would return to the Hampton area once the new station is complete, The Henry Reporter noted.
Officials say emergency coverage will not be reduced while construction is underway, and county managers plan to publish construction milestones as they are set. Residents with questions about fire station services can contact Henry County Fire Rescue for updates.
