Work on the long-awaited Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department station will begin next week. A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday afternoon at the site of the new fire station at 146 Alexander St. From left are Martin Malone, of Malone Brothers Excavating; Jeff Idell, president and CEO of Idell Construction; Josh Idell, of Idell Construction; Mike Idell, president and COO of Idell Construction; Scott Crawford, assistant chief of the fire department; Marty Shelton, fire department chief; Alan Corley, Tusculum mayor; Barbara Britton, Tusculum vice-mayor; Mike Burns, Tusculum commissioner; and Gene Mullett, fire department captain.

Tusculum Mayor Alan Corley looks on as Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department Chief Marty Shelton speaks Wednesday afternoon before a groundbreaking ceremony for the fire department’s new station at 146 Alexander St. Work on the new fire station will begin next week by Idell Construction.

Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department members and their families had plenty to smile about on Wednesday at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new fire station at 146 Alexander St., across from Tusculum City Hall.

This is an artist’s rendering of the new Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department station on Alexander Street. The fire station will be ready for occupancy in spring 2023.

Work on the long-awaited Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department station will begin next week. A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday afternoon at the site of the new fire station at 146 Alexander St. From left are Martin Malone, of Malone Brothers Excavating; Jeff Idell, president and CEO of Idell Construction; Josh Idell, of Idell Construction; Mike Idell, president and COO of Idell Construction; Scott Crawford, assistant chief of the fire department; Marty Shelton, fire department chief; Alan Corley, Tusculum mayor; Barbara Britton, Tusculum vice-mayor; Mike Burns, Tusculum commissioner; and Gene Mullett, fire department captain.

Tusculum Mayor Alan Corley looks on as Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department Chief Marty Shelton speaks Wednesday afternoon before a groundbreaking ceremony for the fire department’s new station at 146 Alexander St. Work on the new fire station will begin next week by Idell Construction.

Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department members and their families had plenty to smile about on Wednesday at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new fire station at 146 Alexander St., across from Tusculum City Hall.

This is an artist’s rendering of the new Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department station on Alexander Street. The fire station will be ready for occupancy in spring 2023.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department station was held Wednesday afternoon.

The fire station will be built on on land across from Tusculum City Hall on a lot at 146 Alexander St.

Work at the site will begin next week, said Jeff Idell, president and CEO of Idell Construction, job contractor.

The new fire station should be ready for occupancy by spring 2023, officials said.

City officials said the project was delayed by the COVID-19 epidemic and as grants and other financing methods to help pay for it were developed.

The project has long been in the discussion stage.

“We’ve been talking about it for several years. This is really something that the fire department needs and something that the city needs,” Mayor Alan Corley told about 50 firefighters, city officials and guests standing with fire department trucks and construction equipment behind them at the site.

The Idell Construction contract approved in August by Tusculum commissioners totals about $725,000, with about $550,000 provided through American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds. The remainder, about 20% of the total, will come from the city fund balance.

Corley said the new fire station will have a positive “cascade effect” on the city, freeing up space for the Public Works Department and more room in city hall for the Tusculum Police Department, the city Recorder’s Office and an expanded public meeting space.

“This is the first step that we needed to take to address a lot of space needs,” Corley said. “We’re excited to get started.”

He elaborated after the ceremony.

“The new station will provide a better designed space to house our fire apparatus and equipment, will consolidate them into a more accessible space, and a better space for indoor training activities,” Corley said.

The dimensions of the new fire station will be about 80 feet wide by 60 feet deep, and 16 feet in height. It will face Alexander Street and will be located next to the adjacent building currently housing both fire department and Public Works Department equipment.

The three-bay station will be a prefabricated metal, or “package”-style, building. About three-quarters of the post-steel metal building will consist of the three bays to house large fire apparatus, and the remaining space will contain a kitchen area, a meeting/training space, storage areas and restrooms.

Idell said the building is on order. Meanwhile, a crew will begin next week undercutting soil in preparation for placement of a concrete building pad.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.

Corley said the construction contract specifies completion within nine months from the date of signing in August.

“Idell Construction believes that they can finish in about seven months from that date, depending on availability of the metal building and other materials. We hope to be in the building by April 2023,” Corley said.

Fire station construction will allow future improvements in the city.

“The building fulfills an immediate need for space, as well as a long-term need. The long-anticipated acquisition of a fire department ladder truck this summer created an immediate need because it displaced some public works equipment from the current building due to its significantly larger footprint than the truck it replaced,” Corley said. “The long-term need includes more space for the police department, public works, and the recorder’s office.”

Fire Chief Marty Shelton said the larger apparatus bay area “will mean we won’t be restricted to having our fleet only a certain size based on the dimensions of the building.”

“We hope to replace the next apparatus with a larger tanker to carry 3,000 gallons of water possibly. This will be the next process in our fleet replacement schedule as a capital investment beyond the station’s completion,” he said.

Corley said the new fire station “is the first step in a planned process to provide more space for all these city departments. The second phase will include the renovation of the current first floor of the current city hall to house the police department, and the third phase will include renovation of the second floor of city hall to provide more space for the recorder’s office and an enlarged public meeting space.”

The second and third phases “will take place as funding permits,” he added.

Shelton said the 20-plus members of the Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department spend much of their free time training and answering calls.

“We’re very blessed in the Tusculum community with what we have and the ability to serve (the public),” he said.

“In a time where society has trouble paying people to do a job, we have a department that gives up time from family and work, gas prices being high and they still come to meetings and trainings, pay for some things out of their own pockets ‘just because,’ and the list goes on,” Shelton said.

He said the fire station will have the capacity to grow in step with the City of Tusculum.

“The station will fill a long-term need to continue the growth in our abilities and capabilities. To have a place that is ours and not in a ‘garage’ will let it be a place we all can be proud of. It will be an investment into the city’s infrastructure to house equipment in our long-range planning of future additions, some we may not even be aware of yet.

“Things we currently do or equipment we carry may not have been in our plans five years ago. With the completion of the station, we will continue to work with our city leaders and make smart choices and decisions on how we grow from here,” Shelton said.

Immediate benefits once the fire station is complete will include increased capacity to accommodate the public for fundraising events, such as the popular annual barbecue and homemade ice cream supper held in June.

“The station will allow us to be better prepared to hold our fire department operations in a more organized manner with the set-up it has. The larger bay floors will allow us to accommodate more patrons to our increasing size of attendees at the annual barbecue dinner,” Shelton said. “We are looking into a future investment, hopefully by grant funds, to add a station generator capable of powering the entire station with a surplus power level. This would allow us to stay powered up in the event of a outage.”

Corley and Shelton thanked those who helped make the fire station project a reality.

“Many thanks go to the First Tennessee Development District for their assistance with the bidding process for the project, to fire Chief Shelton and Police Chief (Danny) Greene for their input and assistance with building design, to Idell Construction for understanding and adjusting to our needs, and to Vice-Mayor Barbara Britton and Commissioner Mike Burns for their support of the project on behalf of the city.”

Added Shelton: “I want to thank all of the city officials for the willingness to start this process in 2019 and keep it on the table with several hurdles and hoops to proceed through that could have ended it more than once. COVID really hampered the process and the funding that came from it could have been earmarked elsewhere, but the city leaders stayed focused on the new station.”

Shelton said the city’s support of the project “was the only way we were able to construct it.”

Britton complimented the professionalism of the all-volunteer fire department and spoke of the need for the new fire station.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Britton said of the new fire station. “We have a wonderful, dedicated fire crew and I can’t say enough about them. They’re really good.”

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