According to a report from DeSoto-Times Tribune, bids to build Southaven, Mississippi’s, long-planned Fire Station 5 came in at more than $1 million under cost projections, and town officials now expect to break ground on the station within the next 45 days.

On February 16, Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite told the Board of Aldermen that the bids were a lot lower than expected. Musselwhite said he is pleased the bids came in much lower than anticipated. The city originally estimated the project to cost about $5.5 million. The mayor said he believes the final cost will be around $4.5 million, with additional fees added in.

The city awarded the job to Legacy Construction Services of Rossville, Tennessee, with the winning bid coming in at $3,871,938. The next lowest bidder was C&M Builders at $4,163,000. Seven other bidders ranged from $4,199,000 to $4,540,000.

Fire Station 5 will be located on Star Landing Road next to the big curve just west of Getwell Road. The facility was designed by A2H with a dual front design to accommodate future road changes with Star Landing. Construction will take 400 days to complete.

The new station, combined with Southaven’s aggressive fire hydrant expansion plan and its adoption of the most recent building codes will improve the town’s “Class 3” ISO fire rating. Currently, there are just five cities in the state of Mississippi with a higher fire rating than Southaven’s.

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According to a report from DawsonCountyNews, Dawson County (GA) Fire & Emergency Services (DCFES) will officially cut the ribbon on its new Fire Station 8 at 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 4. The ceremony will be open to the public.

The new station, located off of Sweetwater Juno Road, will offer improved fire and emergency medical services (EMS) coverage to the area, which was previously more difficult for the DCFES to reach.

DCFES Chief and EMA Director Danny Thompson noted that the new station’s location will help bring greater service to that particular area of Dawson County, which had been underserved for some time.

The faster response times out of the new station can make all the difference for residents in need of fire or EMS assistance, according to Thompson. The station will offer not only more thorough coverage of Dawson County but will also see many safety upgrades for DCFES members such as reducing their exposure to chemicals and other cancer-causing agents. 

Thompson said the station will feature new exhaust systems that hook to apparatus tailpipes, which will suck cancer-causing agents into this system and out of the building. In addition, the gear storage room will be a negative-pressure room, so any cancer-causing agents on turnout gear will also be exhausted from the building. Lastly, a “gear extractor,” a type of washing machine for turnout gear, will clean the gear by removing the cancer-causing agents.

Fire Station 8, like other fire and EMS projects, will be funded by Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) dollars, so it will be the citizens’ support of SPLOST that will have paid for the project’s completion. 

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MSA and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) are working together to provide the most innovative and up-to-date technology to help first responders improve their health and safety. That’s why three volunteer firefighters that are NVFC members will receive a personalized MSA Cairns® XF1 Fire Helmet in 2021.

To be eligible to enter, applicants must be an active U.S. volunteer firefighter and a member of the NVFC; learn about member benefits and join at www.nvfc.org/join. Members will have three opportunities to enter to win an XF1 helmet throughout the year. One recipient will be randomly selected during each entry period.

“Many volunteer departments often work with limited budgets, where providing top-of-the-line PPE isn’t an option,” said NVFC chair Steve Hirsch. “We are grateful to MSA for this helmet donation program and their organization’s continuous commitment to the volunteer fire service and the health and safety of our first responders.”

The jet-style design of the Cairns® XF1 Fire Helmet reduces snag hazards, provides a personalized fit, and houses its own integrated light module. Plus, the soft goods are removable, washable, and replaceable, helping firefighters align with cancer awareness programs as written by the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. Approvals include NFPA 1971-2018 Structural Firefighting and NFPA 1951-2013 Rescue and Recovery. The first entry period is open now through March 31, 2021. Learn more and enter to win at www.nvfc.org/helmet.

About MSA

At MSA, our business is safety. Our commitment to developing innovative safety solutions is founded on one singular and unchanging mission: “that men and women may work in safety, and that they, their families and their communities may live in health throughout the world.” Our core fire service products include the revolutionary G1 SCBA, Cairns® fire helmets, Globe® turnout gear and boots, Altair® portable gas detection instruments, and Evolution® TICs. For more information, visit MSAfire.com.

About the NVFC

The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) is the leading nonprofit membership association representing the interests of the volunteer fire, EMS, and rescue services. The NVFC serves as the voice of the volunteer in the national arena and provides critical resources, programs, education, and advocacy for first responders across the nation. Learn more at www.nvfc.org.

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Several South Renovo, PA, firefighters were transported to the hospital for evaluation after the fire truck they were in ended up off the road and crashing into a utility pole, according to a report published by The Express.

According to the newspaper, a Citizen’s Hose Company of South Renovo fire truck was responding to a flue fire, which later turned into a house fire, when its driver encountered road hazards including rocks and trees.  The truck left the road and traveled for a distance before striking and breaking the utility pole, the paper reported.

The fire department’s Facebook page acknowledged the crash and said all four occupants of the truck were going to be OK.

The flue fire to which the firefighters were responding, evolved into a second alarm building fires, forcing other crews and emergency vehicles to go around the fire truck crash scene to fight the fire, the paper reported.

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