BY MILES LAYTON
BETHEL — Good news – there was a groundbreaking Sunday for a new fire substation in Bethel that will provide more coverage for the southern end of Perquimans County.
That $600,000 substation will provide service to Albemarle Plantation, which is poised for major growth in the years ahead. Later, the substation will be home to a new $700,000 fire truck.
“This will help us with our insurance ratings throughout this end of the county, and it doesn’t just benefit Albemarle Plantation, but it benefits everyone on this side of the Bethel community,” said Kathy Treiber, president of the board of directors for Albemarle Plantation Property Owners Association.
A shout-out goes to Pam Hadden for the news tip and photos and Albemarle Observer Publisher Nicole Layton for her reporting/photographs too — see those at end of the story.
“This station will decrease the response time for residents on Harvey’s Point Road along with Albemarle Plantation and Holiday Island,” Hadden said. “Another benefit since the fire station is closer, our premiums on fire insurance should decrease. Albemarle Plantation was instrumental in having this dream come true. ”
There are bulldozers and big piles of sand in a field by the corner of Harvey Point Road and Church Lane, where the 65-by-80-foot substation – a meeting room, office, small kitchen, showers – will be under construction for about a year, said Alan Corprew, president of the Bethel Volunteer Fire Department’s Board of Directors, also Safety Officer with the Bethel VFD. There will be a fire engine at the substation until the new truck arrives in about two years – that’s how long it takes to build and deliver the big trucks these days.
“We’ve been working on this project for 20 years – we’re ready for this to be built, ” he said.
Bethel VFD Fire Chief Darren Saunders added, “I’m glad we’re getting the substation. It’s been a long time coming. It’s been needed. Our district, of course, is so long that it makes it hard to cover it, so this being here is going to help because we can get a fire truck on scene quicker in this area.”
Saunders continued, “One of my firemen lives right right next door to where we’re building the station, so that’s gonna help us tremendously. Before, he would have to go eight miles that way to get a truck, and then eight miles back this way to get a truck here, which hopefully, we’d have fireman there that would be bringing a truck before he had time to get out there, hopefully. But that’s worst case scenario. But now, if there’s something going on down here, he can come here and have a truck. And then when the other firemen get there, we already got a fire truck on scene at work. So, yes, the substation will definitely make it a lot safer. And that’s the main thing the fire department wanted. The insurance rating decrease – savings – is just a bonus, but just to make this part of our district safer is is the main thing.”
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