March 30, 1992

White River Township opens second fire station

       After a decade of planning and a year of building, the White River Township Volunteer Fire Department opened its second station last weekend.  At 6 p.m. Saturday, Station Two at 398 Meridian Parke Drive came on line after a full day of moving equipment and furniture.  “It feels great,” said Chief Howard Bennis.  Before the move, the Fire Department had between two and four volunteers at all times at Station One, 1086 S. Runyon Road.  Now, the department will keep two firefighters at each station.  The new station will drastically improve the Fire Department’s response time to emergencies in the northern part of the township, said LI Joe Marsh.  For example, last Tuesday it took the department four minutes from the call to take an ambulance run to a house in Carefree South subdivision.  The department was called to the same house on Saturday.  “From actual tone setting to the scene took around a minute,” Marsh said.  About 70 percent of the department’s calls are emergency runs, Bennis said.  The Fire Department splits its fire district in half, with the new station giving first response to calls north of Main Street.  The White River Township Fire district is bordered by County Line Road to the north, the White River to the west, Stones Crossing to the south, and the city limits of Greenwood before the 1989 annexation along State Road 135. The 7,700-square-foot station cost more than $600,000, and is the first of three new stations the department would like to build in the next 10 years.  The 45-member department has already purchased property on the southeast corner of State Road 37 and Smith Valley Road for another station. The department hopes to build a third station somewhere in the southern part of the district.  The 40-year-old station on Runyon Road would be used as a storage house or demolished, Bennis said. The Fire Department plans a dedication and open house in the next few months.  See a related story and photos HERE.  (Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)

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