Roanoke County highlights new Fire Station 12, says response times halved and 18 staff hired

Roanoke County staff described the new Fire Station 12 in the Bonsack area on a public walkthrough, highlighting design choices aimed at faster emergency response, crew safety and long-term efficiency.

Unidentified Speaker 2, a Roanoke County staff member, said the station was sited for a fast response along what the speaker called the "Mondstadt Corridor," a growth area serving Bedford and Botetourt counties as well as nearby Vinton. "Through demand, it was identified that Roanoke County needed a station in the Bonsack area," the speaker said.

County staff cited an analysis of comparable addresses showing response times fell "from an average response time of over 8 minutes to about 4 minutes" after the station opened. "So it dropped it in half by having a station right here in the middle of, where the majority of the calls were," Unidentified Speaker 2 said.

The station's layout emphasizes speed and contamination control. Unidentified Speaker 1, a station staff member, described single-level access so crew can go "out my bunk room and straight to the truck, in the middle of the night." The facility has a "split bay" design to shorten walks to vehicles and a deliberate "dirty side" and "clean side" separation to limit cross-contamination of PPE and living spaces.

Staff also noted in-station features intended to protect crew health and readiness: a separate PPE storage room with dedicated ventilation and a gear-washing extractor "made to extract all the carcinogens and particulates" from turnout gear, heated bay floors, ceiling fans to move air, and an exhaust removal system that vents diesel fumes when trucks start.

The station includes a fitness room for physical readiness, bunk beds built by personnel to save on materials costs, and an alerting system that notifies only the crew assigned to a particular truck so others' sleep is not unnecessarily disturbed. "Before you go to bed at night, you can come in here and put whatever your assignment is based on your bunk room," Unidentified Speaker 2 said of the alerting system.

Unidentified Speaker 2 also said the facility was constructed with conduit and electrical work to allow future solar panels to be added as a "plug and play" upgrade.

The presentation described the project as a substantial county investment that required cooperation with Roanoke City and a private church partner. Staff said the county purchased a new fire truck and a new ambulance and hired 18 people to staff the station. "This was a large investment by the county ... it's an investment in the community and in Roanoke County," Unidentified Speaker 2 said.

The walkthrough provided no formal votes or ordinance references; details in the transcript focus on operational features, safety measures and the project's scale rather than procurement steps or funding line items.