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Residents urge new South Chattahoochee Hills fire substation after recorded 15–20 minute response times
Summary
After two recent fires and cellphone/surveillance timestamps indicating long response times, residents asked council to prioritize a new fire substation in South Chattahoochee Hills; the council agreed to address the topic at its retreat and asked staff for an update.
Several Chattahoochee Hills residents urged the City Council on March 3 to speed work on a new fire substation for the southern part of the city after a near-miss residential fire and earlier property loss.
Bruce Nelson recounted a 2023 house fire that destroyed a home and a separate incident a month earlier in which neighbors used extinguishers to stop a pine-straw fire before trucks arrived. Nelson said cellphone and security-camera time stamps showed apparatus arriving about 20 minutes after the emergency call and told council: 'If you live in districts 4 or 5, you can pretty much say goodbye to your home if it catches fire.'
Councilmember Timothy Southard said he checked with Fire Chief Greg Brett and that the department's logs indicated a 15–18 minute response time for the recent event; Chief Brett earlier reported continuing EMS and transport challenges tied to regional provider coverage.
Nelson asked council to make the substation a priority at the upcoming retreat and requested an update at the next council meeting. Councilmembers acknowledged the concern and said they would discuss it at the retreat; no formal funding decision or motion to site a substation was made at this meeting.
What happens next: the council will consider fire-substation options during its retreat (March 6–7) and Nelson asked for a status update at the next regular meeting.
