Fire Station 4 is moving.
Columbus Fire & Rescue Chief Martin Andrews said the department has plans to move the station from its current spot at the intersection of Airline and South McCrary roads, to a location near the Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society. The new spot is less than a mile west of the station’s current home.
Fire Station 4 is the department’s oldest running station. The needs of a modern fire department have outgrown the roughly 3,200 square-foot location.
“It’s probably close to 70 years old, if not older,” Andrews told The Dispatch on Friday. “The feasibility and usability are very limited now. The trucks we buy today won’t even fit in there, so that’s a problem.”
The new location, which Andrews said the department hopes to have operational by fall 2016, will nearly triple Fire Station 4’s size to 9,000 square feet. Andrews said the station will have space for up to four vehicles and will house the department’s backup ladder truck.
The new location should also provide faster response times for residents in Columbus’ south side and along Highway 69. Andrews said Fire Station 4’s current times are lacking, as a result of annexations that have happened in the decades since the station’s construction.
Construction costs
In all, the new station should cost about $600,000. Andrews said the city budget $300,000 for construction and the department is using $300,000 in rebate funds from the Mississippi Insurance Commission to fund the rest.
Andrews said several companies — J-5, Neel-Schaffer and LPK Architects — are providing pro-bono services for the project, which keep costs down. He said Columbus public works is helping with the project and firefighters will assist in the construction.
“That helps save a lot of money and enables us to get that building built for that price,” Andrews said. “It’s a big, big plus.”
Dirt work for the new station is underway. Andrews said the department will put out bids for concrete work to get construction started in the near future.
Fire Station 4 currently operates with three firefighters per shift. Andrews said that will likely remain the same when the new station opens, with plans to increase shift size over time.
The new station will be “built for the future,” Andrews said, with a classroom for firefighters to conduct classes and training on-site. It will have 18 beds — twice the amount the current station has.
“This is a state-of-the-art station that will create a win-win for our community,” he said. “That’s what we want.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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