Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-NewsVisitors check out the fire trucks during an open house for Whitfield County Fire Station 11 in Cohutta.

COHUTTA, Ga. — Cohutta Mayor Ron Shinnick calls Whitfield County Fire Station 11 a “symbol of service.”

“It’s a symbol of helping others,” said Shinnick.

The fire station opened Friday morning, and more than 100 local officials, firefighters and residents of Cohutta gathered for an open house.

The 7,200-square-foot station, built with about $1.5 million from the 2015 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), is on the southwest side of Cohutta at 5268 Cohutta Varnell Road on land donated by the town to the county.

“It’s going to have a major impact, not only on Cohutta but the surrounding area. They’ll not only be answering fire calls but emergency medical calls. They’ll have two people on duty 24 hours a day,” Shinnick said. “We had a volunteer fire department, and they did a great job for many years. But it was hard to have people 24 hours a day. People’s schedules and lifestyles have changed, and the Town Council wanted to make sure our citizens had the services they need.”

The town’s volunteer fire department closed down in January, after more than 50 years of service.

The new station will cover Cohutta and the northern part of Whitfield County.

Whitfield County Fire Chief Ed O’Brien talks about the county’s newest fire station

“I live about half a mile up the road. I’m not in the city limits, but I’m close by,” said Parker Williams. “This is something we really need. The volunteer fire department did a fine job for many years, but times change.”

Donna Mann said she lives just outside the town limits but wanted to see the station.

“I’m not an expert, but it really looks like it is the state of the art,” she said.

The station has bays for three trucks, along with living quarters for up to six firefighters, bathrooms, offices and a room for turnout gear.

Whitfield County Fire Chief Ed O’Brien noted that the county’s 10 other fire stations were built in 1977 and are still in use.

“This station will be here long after I’m gone and after most of the people here today are gone,” he said. “We wanted to build it to serve the needs of residents today and in the future.”

O’Brien said the station will provide coverage for parts of the far north of the county, bringing the ISO (Insurance Services Office) rating to three from 10. ISO ratings help determine a homeowner’s insurance rates, the lower the better.

Varnell Mayor Tom Dickson said the northwest part of that city is closer to the new station than to any other county fire station, so it should help improve fire protection there.

“I am so proud of this new station,” said Whitfield County Board of Commissioners Chairman Lynn Laughter. “We’ll be building a station just like this in the south end of the county. We already have the property.”

Earlier this year, the Dalton Building Authority agreed to issue up to $4 million in bonds to build that fire station on South Riverbend Road in the southeast part of the county. The bonds will be repaid from taxes collected in the special tax district for the fire department, which is everything outside of the city limits of Dalton. Commissioners are talking about asking voters for a new SPLOST in March 2019 and have said they may shift the financing of those bonds to that SPLOST if it is approved.

“Anytime you can build something like this and do it with SPLOST money it’s a win for the citizens,” said Commissioner Roger Crossen of the new station. “We are very proud of it.”