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MONROETON — In the middle of mile after mile of farmland stands a building that could one day mean the difference between life and death for southern Rockingham County residents.

The gleaming new fire station on Benaja Road means shorter response times for residents of this rural section of the county.

For firefighter Steve Hall, who has been part of the Monroeton Fire Department  for more than 40 years, seeing the station built has been a dream more than a decade in the making.

“We’ve been working toward this for years,” he said. “We knew we had to do something in this area.”

The department’s other station is a five-mile drive away. Response times in the area weren’t ideal.

That’s crucial when it comes to fighting fires. The line between an easily controlled fire and a gutted house can be razor thin and measured in minutes.

The same is true for medical calls. Getting help in the first few minutes is essential when it comes to strokes, heart attacks and other life-threatening conditions.

The new station will shave critical minutes from those times.

“Those first few minutes ... you need to be there quickly,” Hall said. “We’re going to be able to give them better response times.”

Work on the building finished in June. Since then, the station has been getting up to speed, with a new truck added last month  and other details being worked out.

The improvements aren’t cheap.

The cost of the land and building totaled just under $500,000, said Chris Robertson, a fellow Monroeton board member and firefighter. The truck cost $334,000 .

But that won’t mean a tax increase for a department that hasn’t raised taxes since the mid-1990s, Hall said.

And beyond saving lives, there is a financial return on the investment. The new station is a major part of the department’s effort to improve its insurance rating, which in turn determines the amount residents pay for fire insurance.

A huge number of factors go into that — training, hoses, equipment, building, water, personnel, records — and improving the rating isn’t cheap.

“Everything costs a lot,” Hall said. “It takes time and money to do that.”

A few years ago, the department rated a nine on a scale of one to 10, with one being the best.

Two years ago, improvements led to an insurance rating of seven. That translated into an average savings of $300  a year for residents. That savings didn’t benefit residents living in the area to be served by the new station — but it will now, Hall said.

And when new ratings come out in the years ahead, the department could improve even more, he said.

The department, like many rural fire services, faces some sticky questions in the future.

Over the years, its number of volunteers has dwindled, from between 40 and 50 to about 35  now, with some more active than others. They answer about 400 calls a year, mostly medical, so manpower is always an issue.

“We need volunteers,” Hall said. “Everyone does.”

But the building is a statement of optimism, both in the department and in the area’s development.

Initially, the station will house two of the department’s distinctive white fire trucks and one medical truck. There’s room for more, however.

With upgrades planned for U.S. 29 and residential development expected, it’s a good idea to be ready, Hall said.

“We built this building for the future,” he said.

Contact Jason Hardin at 373-7021 or at jason.hardin@news-record.com