After a two-year absence, the ladder truck from Fire Station No. 9 in Villa Rica is back in its home bay.

Ladder 9 was returned last week its home station on Industrial Boulevard after spending the last two years operating out of Station 16 on Tumlin Lake Road just outside of Villa Rica. The truck was moved to Station 16 shortly when that station was built.

The truck’s absence meant Station 9, one of the busiest in Carroll County, had been operating with only a pumper truck and two firefighter/EMTs per shift.

“That’s one of our busiest stations, if not the busiest, in Carroll County, and that puts two men previously covering Villa Rica at our busiest station to five men there now,” Fire Chief T.D. Smith said.

Villa Rica Mayor J. Collins has complained for a long time that the city didn’t have adequate fire protection. In fact, he has proposed in the past that the city should launch its own fire department, but he said he is pleased that the ladder truck is back at the Villa Rica station and that station is now fully staffed.

“I’m terribly excited about the move from a public safety standpoint,” he said. “I think there are those who have tried to politicize this, but this is something I’ve fought to try to make happen for a long time and I’m very thankful that Chief Smith made that move. Not only will this provide Villa Rica with a ladder truck, but with that truck comes three more firefighters. I think a city our size needs more than just two firefighters.”

Smith wouldn’t comment on why the ladder truck was moved to Station 16 because that was before his time as chief, but he said there were several reasons it has been moved back. The main reason for the recent move was to keep the insurance ratings low for Villa Rica and surrounding areas. Having the ladder truck near the hub of I-20, Highway 61 and Highway 78 also gives fire personnel a quicker response time to areas both in and out of Villa Rica.

“The City of Villa Rica has multiple multi-story buildings, including hospitals, churches, apartment complexes, as well as many industrial complexes where you need a horizontal reach over the top of buildings versus the vertical reach as well, and we want to have quicker response times from our ladder company to these properties,” Smith said.

Even though the Tumlin Lake station lies just outside of Villa Rica — in fact, it is adjacent to Villa Rica Middle School — Smith said the insurance service organization that sets fire protection ratings deemed the response times for the ladder truck from that station too long for Villa Rica.

“When I talked with ISO (Insurance Service Office), they were surprised that it was still out there (at Station 16),” Smith said.

The closest ladder truck to Villa Rica besides the one now back at Station 9 is located in the City of Carrollton, though there is one in Douglas County that is about the same distance away.