At the request of several Lucketts citizens, Supervisor Higgins and his staff organized a meeting at his offices on July 11th to review the plans for the new Fire and Rescue Station coming to Lucketts. More than a dozen citizens and members of the Lucketts Ruritan Club attended and met with members of the County’s Design/Construction Team, project Architect and Fire Department leadership.

Christopher Roman, AIA, LEED AP – Senior Associate with Mosely Architects of Richmond led the group through a series of renderings showing the details of the new facility. “The intent was to keep the architecture consistent with the identity of existing rural architecture in the Village, and at the same time achieve LEED Gold status,” according to Mr. Roman. “Board and batten siding, combined with a welcoming front porch on the street-facing side of the building help to keep the design consistent with the rural, agricultural setting.”

County Fire Chief Keith Johnston provided the operational details of the 18,000 square foot building. There will be four drive-through bays for fire and rescue vehicles, living quarters for 14 on-duty personnel, administrative offices for both the County Staff and the Volunteer personnel, as well as a dedicated exercise room. This represents a significant opportunity to increase the staff from the current 24 individuals who work four, six-person shifts.

The silo-like structure will house a 25,000-gallon water tank supporting the new building’s fire suppression system. In addition, a 35,000 gallon underground water-tank will help supply tankers servicing rural areas. On-site well water will be processed by the Lucketts School/Lucketts Community Center Sewer Treatment facility that is being upgraded to support this increased load.

Site work is scheduled to begin on the building before the end of July with an expected completion date of Fall 2020. Look for updates on the progress of the building at this website and in future issues of Lucketts News & Notes. An official ground breaking ceremony is planned, but no date has been set at this time. Many thanks to Supervisor Higgins and Stacy Carey for organizing this meeting for interested members of the community.