EVANS, Ga. (WJBF) – After almost 50 years in service, Columbia County is getting a new Fire Station 2 to keep up with the growing community.

A new two-story, three-bay fire station will replace the old one, which firefighters said the area has outgrown.

“The station looks exactly the same, but the area around it doesn’t,” said Lt. Rushton Metzler with Columbia County Fire Rescue.

The $5.4 million SPLOST-funded building will be 11,000 square feet, triple the size of the old building.

“We’re wanting to put another guy as a third man on our engine company, but this station won’t allow that due to housing everybody,” Lt. Metzler said. “So, moving to a bigger station will allow us to do that and have more people on our engines to help the community.”

It will be complete with a decontamination room, a training classroom and space for more personnel.

“The new station will be up-to-date as far as technology-wise goes,” he said. “This truck barely fits in this bay, so the new station will obviously have bigger bays, our signals will go through, the whole station will be wired up for different lighting.”

While it’s being built, the fire rescue team will work out of the EMS building on North Belair Road. They say there will be no delays in service.

“We’ll still have the same response times, we’ll still have one hundred percent coverage, nothing’s going to change,” Lt. Metzler said. “It’s just this is going get torn down and a new station’s going to be built. And it’s gonna be bigger and better, and better for the community as a far as technology goes, response times, all that stuff added in. It’s just going to be a big asset for the community for sure.”

And while they’re looking forward to the new station, the fire rescue crew is making sure to cherish memories from the old one.

“Working out of this station, it’s got a lot of history. A lot of talks have been had around the picnic table, a lot of calls have been ran out of this station over the years, and just the camaraderie of guys,” Lt. Metzler said. “It’s going to be bittersweet. But, it’s gonna be cool to have a new station for sure.”

The demolition and construction of the new building will start in November. The construction company has 450 days from the start date to complete it.