When two contractors were critically injured last week in a fire at Steel Dynamics’ Biocarbon Solutions plant, firefighters and paramedics from the new industrial fire and rescue station at the Lowndes County Industrial Park made it to the scene in less than nine minutes.
That was roughly half the time it would have taken if Lowndes County volunteer firefighters were responding to the call, Station Manager Neal Austin told The Dispatch.
“These guys that are volunteers, they have to take off work, come get a truck and then go,” Austin said of the rural firefighters. “Just the nature of the beast. It’s time consuming. Some of this stuff out here doesn’t have that kind of time.”
The industrial park station opened Oct. 1 with the purpose of providing fire and life preservation services to industry in the park. The station was funded with a $10 million contribution from SDI, but plans for the upcoming legislative session could create a new tax district at the park that would fund the station in the future.
Since opening, Austin said the station, consisting of three firefighters and an on-site paramedic, has responded to about 22 calls in and around the industrial park.
“Our goal (is) to sustain the life and the property that we’re trying to save for an hour,” said Austin, who left his role as Lowndes County’s fire services coordinator in June to take charge of the industrial fire station. “We’re not going to transport people … but we can at least get them stabilized in case there’s a delay. Catching the fire early is what we all want to try to do.”
The station is equipped specifically for industrial accidents, which range from fires to crush injuries to even nearby vehicle accidents, Austin said. The station’s firetruck can flow up to 2,000 gallons a minute, far more than the typical 1,250 gallons county volunteer trucks can pump.
Likewise, a medical truck at the station is stocked with the same equipment found on a medical evacuation helicopter, allowing paramedics to be prepared for anything in the field, even administering blood to patients.
“We have responded to several (calls) out here, and all of our feedback has been really good,” Austin said. “… Even on life-threatening calls or car wrecks with entrapments, things like that in the county’s surrounding Districts 4 and 5 … we’ll respond to it. So it kind of helps not only in the industrial park but in the adjacent area too.”
Austin said the industrial park currently has a Class 9 fire rating, which is based on response times, available equipment and facilities, record keeping and emergency communication, among other factors. A Class 1 fire rating is the highest level of fire protection, while a Class 10 is the lowest.
With the station now on site, he hopes to see a 40% reduction in that rating, which in turn, cuts down on insurance premiums industry in the area pay.
That will be a benefit for the park in its entirety, especially the smaller companies there, said Trip Hairston, president of Lowndes County Board of Supervisors.
“SDI, (Aluminum Dynamics), a lot of those have fire suppression systems,” Hairston told The Dispatch. “They’re very well trained. … But your smaller industries that are there really deal with a lot of the higher insurance costs … because the fire protection rating isn’t as high as it should be.”
‘Tool in the tool belt’
Chief Operations Officer Meryl Fisackerly said the Golden Triangle Development LINK hopes to see legislation passed to create a separate tax district at the park that would permanently fund the station with taxes collected from the industry there.
That would ensure the station won’t need to rely on private contributions as it does now, Hairston said.
“Those taxes in that district are only the industries that are in that particular district,” Hairston said. “It’s not going to include any residential areas in there. … You’ll have a board governing that tax district that includes everybody. That’s the real benefit. It’s not beholden to one company.”
As the newest stop on industry recruitment tours, Fisackerly said the station is already an asset when it comes to marketing the park to new industries.
“Fire and safety is one of those things that doesn’t get a lot of attention when it comes to industrial recruitment, but it’s definitely important and something we get asked about, so it’s definitely a tool in the tool belt for us,” she said.
That will come in especially handy as CINCO, the region’s fifth Megasite, is developed and new industries consider locating there, Fisackerly said.
“That will just be one more marketing tool for us when we are recruiting industries to CINCO, she said. “Since the CINCO site will be included in that (tax) district, any company that locates there would be included in that when they build the facility, so they would then be taxed and be able to receive those services.”
Beyond recruitment, Hairston said the safety provided by the station will bring peace of mind to employees in the park and their families.
“The sheer number of employees that work in … the industrial park at all of those sites is a staggering number,” he said. “If I have a family member (working there) I feel good … knowing that there is a better response than what has been in the past. … You can’t put a dollar value on qualifying that. That’s a huge benefit to the people who work there.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 42 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
