Ridgeland Mayor Joey Malphrus was joined by several members of the Ridgeland Town Council, including Josephine Boyles, Chris DuBose and Grady Woods to break ground for the new addition. He was joined by Town Administrator Dennis Averkin, Town of Ridgeland Fire Department Fire Chief Bradley Bonds and members of the Ridgeland Fire Department including Henry Criss, Chad Atwood and George Wynn.  

“This is a project we have been working on for years, and I’m finally glad to see it coming together,” Malphrus said. “We are very excited about the building.”

The department has one rescue strut kit it uses for lighter vehicles, but the new equipment will be able to lift heavy vehicles up to 10 tons and be used for shoring up a collapsed building or trench, Hardy said.  

None of the equipment has been available for response in the local area, Hardy said. With all the large truck traffic, buses and forest and construction vehicles traveling through the area, Hardy explored funding sources.

The new equipment will be housed on the department’s rescue unit, which responds throughout the county and region, according to Hardy. Training to use the equipment is included in the purchase price.

Fire Rescue Chief Leslie Goodrum said he wants the department to have a new rescue pumper, which he expects would cost about $350,000, because he wants to replace another firetruck that’s more than three decades old. The truck Goodrum wants to replace is a 1981 model that was purchased used before he became a member of Fire Rescue in the early 2000s, he said, adding that it’s been held in reserve since 2002.