COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's a constant challenge as our area grows: making sure our city services keep up.
Now, a fire station in Columbia is getting a major facelift to address that growing population.
If there's one group who can tell you how fast Columbia has grown in the past several years, it's the folks outside Fire Station 1.
"The biggest thing that's impacted us in Columbia and middle Tennessee, is the growth and the traffic," said Columbia Fire Chief Ty Cobb.
20 years ago, the area's population stood at just more than 30,000. Now it's up to 48,000.
That growth is behind the $5 million year-long renovations now happening at Fire Station 1: in addition to building dorms for both male and female firefighters — housing that didn't exist when the station was built in 1979 — it will also boost wi-fi service throughout the station.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
