Sharon McBrayer – The News Herald, Morganton, N.C.
While it’s been a long-time coming, Burke County EMS will have its new headquarters soon.
Burke County leaders broke ground on the new EMS base at the corner of Drexel Road and N.C. Highway 18 South in Morganton in November 2024. The back of the new EMS base No. 1 can be seen from Drexel Road. The front of the building faces N.C. Highway 18 South in Morganton.
Beam Construction Company Inc. is building the EMS base and a new county animal shelter for a combined total of $13.5 million. The new EMS base/headquarters will be a little less than 14,000 square feet and will replace the EMS base No. 1 behind UNC Health Blue Ridge in Morganton.
It will have space for administrative staff, who are now scattered, and it’ll be the location for the transport division, Epley said. It will have living quarters for 24-hour and 12-hour shifts, as well as a training space, Epley has said previously. And it will house the community paramedic program and post-overdose response team, he said.
The county is currently looking for two night-shift certified peer support specialist who will be members of the post-overdose response team. The The county is expected to start reviewing applications for the positions on Monday, Nov. 3.
The new base will have a warehouse area for supplies.
“So it’s a project that puts all our team under one roof, gives us training space, allows the community paramedic program to grow and gives us one of the bigger things from a budget perspective,” Epley said. “It also gives us the ability to bulk order supplies, because we’ll have warehouse storage capabilities there.”
Burke County EMS base No. 1 is nearing completion. County Manager Brian Epley said it is expected to be done in January.
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