LEE COUNTY, S.C. — A new volunteer fire station is in the works for the Saint Charles community of Lee County.
The proposed station would be built near the intersection of Swimming Pen and Racoon Road.
"We've identified this location as being where we can impact the most homes or parcels with structures," said Lee County Administrator Alan Watkins.
He says the county wants to make sure every area of the county has a volunteer fire station near them, and they noticed a gap in this area.
"It's going to do two things. It's going to improve, hopefully, our response time, but it will also be a benefit to anyone outside that 5 road mile distance from a fire station should see a positive impact on their property insurance," Watkins added.
The proposed station will be built with money from the penny sales tax.
"With the capital penny, we were able to also buy equipment," Watkins said. "It's a pretty simple station. It will be a metal building on a concrete pad because, again, it will not be manned on a regular basis. But, if there's a fire in this community, there will be units here to respond."
Council will cast its final vote to approve the purchase of the property on April 11th.
Once approved, Watkins believes the station would go online by October.