Franklin fire substation opens
Town staff and elected officials celebrate the ribbon cutting.
Kyle Perrotti photo
A new fire substation in Franklin years in the making is now operational.
After lingering in limbo following initial construction, the state came through with funding to complete the project after Sen. Kevin Corbin and Rep. Karl Gillespie, both Macon County natives, were able to procure what was needed.
Last week, the opening was made official during a ribbon cutting. At the short event, Mayor Jack Horton offered some words before snipping the ribbon. Horton, who did not run for reelection in November and will finish his eight years as mayor in less than a week, recalled that when he was first elected and sworn in December 2019, there were three hot topics that became priorities — the Women’s History Trail and the skatepark, both already completed, and the substation.
“Our fire department, our town board, and especially our legislative delegation, Senator Corbin and Representative Gillespie, have done yeomen’s work getting the funds to help us build this building and furnish it,” Horton said.
Beyond having a substation out of which firefighters will be able to respond to serious casualties, Horton pointed out that this will also lower Franklin Fire Department’s ISO rating, meaning residents will see a decrease in the homeowner insurance bills.
“We thank you, chief and the firemen, all the paid and all the volunteer firemen and all the support that the community has given to our fire department. We thank you, and we dedicate this today, not to ourselves, but to the people that we serve,” Horton said. “Public service in the public interest has always been my theme, and this is a good example. This is a good example of how that meets that goal today.”
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The stationhouse, still sporting that new building aroma, features a large living area, full kitchen and several sleeping quarters which are set up like dorm rooms. Speaking with The Smoky Mountain News, Franklin Fire Chief Ben Ormond said that the station won’t be manned now, but it will be useful for larger events that play out over a longer period like a structure fire since it’s another place volunteers can arrive and gear up.
“One of the volunteers that lives on this side of town can just swing by here and grab the truck instead of having to drive all the way to Maple Street to get a fire apparatus,” he said.
While there is a large bay capable of housing multiple vehicles, at this point, there is only a pump truck at the substation. The goal is to get more trucks and, at some point, man the station so it can be used for immediate response.
“Now we’ll have room to grow into that,” Ormond said. “This is a big step toward the future for us.”
In addition, Ormond said there’s a plan in the works for which he’s already written a policy proposal that would create a “live-in program,” which would allow a few volunteers to live in the bunk rooms under certain rules and restrictions. The upside for the town is that the station will be staffed, the upside for the people participating in the live-in program is that they don’t have to pay rent and will enjoy stable housing.
When Ormond, originally from Greenville, first came into his current role in January 2021, the paperwork for the substation was done, the land located and a contractor to complete the job. A couple of months later, town leaders broke ground on the building. On March 14, 2023, there was a grand opening for the building itself, but at that point it was really just a shell of what one day would be an operational substation. Now it’s ready for full use.
“We had the three bays and this firewall, and all this was just open, and we weren’t really sure when or how we were going to get the funds to finish this,” Ormond said. “And then fortunately, our legislators, Rep. Gillespie and Sen. Corbin, were able to help us obtain a grant so that we could finish it. And now here we are.”
