The Bethlehem community's population has been growing for years, but its volunteer fire department is still working out of the 1962 fire station, built when the Bethlehem Community Volunteer Fire Department was founded.
This summer, the department applied for and won a $2,008,515 federal grant that will pay for a new 19,000-square-foot fire station.
On Friday, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr was in Bethlehem to present the grant to the department.
"This is a great thing for this county," he said. "We're not accustomed to federal dollars in that magnitude finding their way to North Carolina."
"This will serve a huge need for us," said Chief Shannon Lowrance of the Bethlehem Community Volunteer Fire Department. "This is a very fast-growing community. We're building for the next 50 years."
Lowrance said the department responded to more than 700 calls this year, as compared to about 400 three years ago.
He said the new station will be built on N.C. 127 across from Richey Road. It will contain a community room and serve as an emergency shelter in times of need.
"We hope to have it done by next spring," Lowrance said.
He said the grant will pay for the station and everything in it except for the furniture.
In 2002, architectural plans for a new station were drawn up at a cost of $20,000. Two years ago those plans were updated to conform to new building codes at a cost of $2,000.
Having the plans ready to go helped the department win three American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Assistance to Firefighters Station Construction Grants issued this year from the Federal Emergency Management Agency / Department of Homeland Security, Lowrance said.
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