LIMESTONE COUNTY, Ala. – Limestone County is making moves to improve response times for those who live and work furthest from the hospital. That move comes in the form of a new ambulance substation.

The new station will be located near Blackburn Road and Highway 72. Leaders say it will cut call times down exponentially for the western part of the county.

District Three Commissioner Jason Black says this is a long time coming. He says Limestone County has seen massive growth in the past few years and with that more accidents. Especially along Highway 72, which has been increasingly filled with people traveling to and from home and work.

The new station will be based off the highway on Blackburn Road, it was taken over from the Limestone County Board of Education. It will serve as an area for paramedics for Athens-Limestone Hospital to wait comfortably in between calls and be closer to areas like Clements, Tanner and the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant should there be an emergency.

“If you’ve ever had a family member that has had chest pains or one that you find unconscious or one that has had an accident, I have, seconds seem like forever, so if you can cut 15 minutes from someone, it’s fantastic. To hear the sirens coming gives you a lot of hope,” Black explained.

Black told News 19 the end goal would be to also add enough cleared space for air evac helicopters to land and take off, but that’s still to be determined as they get the current conversion underway. The goal is to get the station up and running in early 2022.