An empty Whitmire car dealership is on the road to a new life as a rescue squad and emergency medical services headquarters.

Last night, County Council agreed to put $2,000 down on an option to purchase the former Young Chevrolet building on Highway 121 in Whitmire.

The $2,000 expenditure will come from the rescue squad budget.

The entire purchase will cost the county $205,000; with the project, including renovations, estimated to top $1 million.

Whitmire Rescue Squad Chairman David Andrews said the squad is currently housed in the old fire station connected to Town Hall. The current facility has leaks, and squad equipment is being housed outside and at members’ homes.

The EMS station is in an old garage, but there is no room in the station to park an ambulance. The ambulance and medications on the truck have to be outside in all temperatures, according to EMS Director Bill Grigsby.

Grigsby added that during the recent snow, he kept an EMS crew at the station, but the building was not up to code, having only one exit and it was risky to house employees there overnight.

If the purchase is completed, and the groups’ make a successful bid for capital penny sales tax funding, the former auto dealership has potential for an addition to also house the Whitmire Fire Department.

The county is required to make a committment on exercising the option to buy the property by March 4, and then has until Feb. 15, 2011 to complete the purchase.