After more than 53 years in service, Columbia Fire Station No. 3 was bulldozed Tuesday, two months after it was found unsafe for firefighters and equipment. An engineering report in September recommended emergency services should be moved as soon as possible.
Firefighters were switched to a mobile home in front of the station after City Manager Tony Massey and Fire Chief Tommy Hemphill decided it was too risky to house personnel inside with cracks and structural damage increasing.
“After we received the report, it was clear what we needed to do,” Massey said. “That was to demolish the station and begin the process of deciding what to do going forward. The ground near the station was unstable. We've had sink holes there in the past. Rather than spend $30,000 to stabilize the building, a risky proposition at best, we decided to move the firefighters, demolish the station and look into future options.”
A high wind or moderately sized earthquake likely would have forced the station on Nashville Highway to collapse, a report from Cartwright Engineering in Nashville concluded.
“It is my professional opinion that the building be demolished and remain unoccupied until it is demolished,” the report said.
Demolition began Tuesday morning and was complete by lunch time, said Chad Lindsey, owner of Lindsey Excavation-Demolition, which won the bid on the project for $53,000. The cost includes asbestos removal.
“It is routine for us,” Lindsey said. “It's small compared to some of the jobs we do. We pretty much should be finished cleaning up the site by Friday.”
A new Station No. 3 likely will not be built at the current location on Nashville Highway. Massey said the city will study options. Among his concerns: the shaky geological history and the traffic on Nashville Highway.