(WBIR-Arjay, KY) It's been two years since a small fire station in Bell County, Kentucky closed. Now the station is open again.
"We recently changed the board, a change in positions. So the new board decided to reopen the Arjay station," said Bucky Shelby with the Bell County Volunteer Fire Department.
In December 2011, the BCVFD decided to close this and several other stations. Then, a lawyer for the department told 10News they were not getting funding to keep the stations operational. Then, confusion over who owned the buildings outright became the sticking point.
However, there's a change of heart with Arjay reopening, and two other closed stations could possibly be reestablished too.
"We had it and the last administration of the fire department elected to remove it for whatever reasons there were," said Jim Mills, an Arjay resident and member of the fire department.
The 27 months that Arjay did not have a fire station meant residents had higher insurance rates and the risk of longer response times. Leaders said while the station was closed, no one died as a result of lack of service.
Still, having volunteers ready with a fully-equipped truck is vital.
"(We) actually went on the first run Saturday in two years," added Shelby.
Judge executive Alby Brock told 10News he hopes the BCVFD will open other stations in the future and looks forward to working with them in the future.
