New Garner station to play big role as Wake County emergency medical demand grows

A new emergency medical services station is coming to southern Wake County in Garner.

Plans for an $8.5 million regional EMS center were approved by Wake County Board of Commissioners in a Monday meeting.

The 12,748-square-foot Garner Main EMS Station will be a prototype serving EMS units and personnel in Garner and also working as a regional EMS hub in the southern Wake County area.

“As our county grows, it’s important for our EMS system to grow as well,” County Commissioner Matt Calabria said in a news release. “This regional station will enable Wake County EMS to continue to provide excellent, essential services to the residents in and around Garner – and do so in a smart, efficient way that will benefit the county as a whole now and in the future.”

Garner’s EMS call volume has increased by nearly half from 2010 to 2021 and grows by 3.5% each year, according to the town.

Wake County EMS currently operates out of Garner Fire Station No. 3 on Timber Drive. The growing fire department will expand into the space vacated by EMS, the county said.

The center will be built on the Timber Drive Elementary School property along Thompson Road. Construction is slated to start this month and finish in the fall of 2023.

New EMS model in Wake

“While many smaller EMS systems are building large, centralized buildings to house equipment and deploy staff, Wake County’s unique characteristics – its size, population and increased call volume – don’t make it a great fit for that model,” the county said in a statement.

The county says it will transition its EMS centers to a “regional” model that will function like law enforcement stations and save time: EMS units will be able to stop at the Garner station rather have to go to the central station in downtown Raleigh.

“Currently, there are times that units are required to report to Raleigh for supplies and equipment maintenance which forces them to be out of service unavailable to answer calls,” Wake County EMS assistant chief Brian Brooks said in an email to The News & Observer.

The new Garner Main EMS Station will have space for medical storage, oxygen inventory and on-duty training.

Emergency vehicles will have six parking bays at the station and three covered service bays where EMS response units can be resupplied, stocked and serviced.

The station will include an electric vehicle charging station and two parking spaces.

In 2018, the Wake County Board of Commissioners updated its Energy Design and Management Guidelines to require all its new facilities to have solar power.

The new EMS station will be the second county facility to open with solar panels built into its original design, according to the town. It will generate 40,000 kilowatts of power annually and offset a third of the building’s electric consumption. The town projects that will save $2,600 annually.

Once the station is complete, Wake County’s portfolio of solar-powered building will have enough power for about 40 homes and cut 74 passenger cars’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions annually, the town said in a news release.