By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com
Rowan County’s newest Emergency Medical Service station is nearing completion and expected go in use within a few weeks.
The county’s most imposing and expensive EMS station is a block off East Innes Street behind the Hess gas station and the Salisbury Fire Department.
The $1 million brick building on East Council Street is the first commercial-style EMS building the county has built. All others were built in a residential style, but the state now requires commercial construction.
County Manager Gary Page said the target for completion is Sept. 15. That could be delayed a few days because of the heavy rains that struck Wednesday, the day the contractor was set to pour the concrete driveway for the four drive-through ambulance bays.
The project is 90 percent complete and the tentative move-in date is Oct. 15.
“It looks great,” Page said. “It’s an excellent facility that will serve the county for a long time.”
The county hasn’t had an ambulance station in downtown Salisbury for almost a decade. In the late 1990s, county building inspectors closed down a leased site because of code violations.
The EMS units and personnel were moved from that station to Emergency Services headquarters on Old Concord Road.
Emergency Services officials have repeatedly stressed the need to put ambulances back in the downtown area ó the center of the heaviest call volume.
County officials looked at dozens of properties over the years, trying unsuccessfully to find a building that would serve as an EMS station.
Designed by Karen Alexander of KKA Architecture and built by Summit Developers, the building meets the state’s new earthquake standards and has a fire suppression sprinkler system.
Page noted the project has gone smoothly with only one change order ó a small deduction in the overall cost.