Something that has been in talks for roughly 20 years is coming to fruition in Stoney Creek.

The Stoney Creek Volunteer Fire Department is in the process of constructing Fire Station 3 which will be located off of Highway 91E near Taylor Hollow and the Upper Big Sandy.

“This is something that we have talked about for twenty years,” said Stoney Creek Fire Chief Jack Buckles. “I have been fire chief for two years and this has been one of my priorities since I took over the job. We have finally built up and got to the point where we are able to do it.”

The new station will be located on a flat, one-acre piece of property that was donated by Billy Cole and his family. The station will take up a small corner of the property and the fire department also plans to work with Wings Air Rescue in creating an LZ landing spot at the location.

According to Buckles, not only will the new fire station help lower response times in the area, but will also help homeowners with insurance prices.

Insurance companies use what’s called an ISO rating when deciding the cost of rates for homeowners, with an ISO rating of 10 being the worst and a rating of 1 being the best.

“Ten is basically no fire protection,” said Buckles. “Stoney Creek has an ISO rating of five, and you have to be within five road miles of a station to take advantage of that five. The upper part of Stoney Creek is currently out of that five-mile radius of Station 1. When we build this all of our fire districts will be within five miles of a station.”

Approximately 200 homes will benefit from the new station and adjusted ISO ratings said Buckles.

“They should see significant savings in their homeowners’ insurance,” he said. “I have had people check already. A couple told me the other day that they could save around 488 dollars a year.”

The fire department, which has used fundraisers to raise money for the station, has already purchased a new fire truck and other equipment for the new location.

Over the weekend, a fundraiser at the New Liberty Freewill Baptist Church in Stoney Creek helped raise $1,600 for the project. Buckles says the fire department plans on holding other fundraising events in the near feature.

The new station is expected to finished and ready go by the spring of 2019. Buckles also said that the fire department hopes to develop a community park at the new station sometime in the future.