WILLIAM MOORE
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo
(TNS)
SALTILLO — In just three months, Saltillo should have its first stand-alone fire station, conveniently located in the center of town and close to all the major traffic arteries.
“Construction is moving along on schedule. We are expecting to open on time on Nov. 1,” said Saltillo Mayor Copey Grantham. “And, even though it was budgeted at $1.9 million, right now we are under budget by $100,000.”
The new 4,500-square-foot building is currently under construction on Turner Industrial Park Road, just south of the Krystal restaurant. Grantham said M&N Construction usually has two crews on site working up to six days a week to ensure the project is completed on time.
The circle drive is completed, allowing fire engines to pull around back to drive into the bays ready to respond to the next emergency. The interior walls are in place, giving the station more of a finished feel. The plumbing has been roughed in and, earlier this week, workers were building the concrete block walls of the fire engine bays.
The design features a storm shelter for employees inside the concrete engine bay. The office and living areas are metal stud construction. The exterior has brick up 3 feet on the outside to tie the fire station in with other buildings in the area.
Inside, the department’s pride and support of the high school will be on full display. Accent walls and the kitchen tile will be in Saltillo blue, to match the color of the iconic and very popular blue fire engine.
The fire station also looks toward the future.
“There are two separate bedroom areas and two sets of bathrooms, so we will be ready in case we get a female firefighter,” Grantham said. “We also designed the drive with a wider turning radius so that it can accommodate a ladder truck, which we will eventually need.”
The 27-foot-tall twin bays will easily hold the department’s two fire engines. The bays are also long enough to accommodate a ladder truck. And if the city ever needs more space, the design allows for easy expansion of the bays to the south.
While the idea of a centralized fire station has been talked about for years, it is only now coming to fruition.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Saltillo Fire Chief Chris Jenkins. “(Mayor Grantham) has worked on this from every angle and went the extra mile to secure the funding for this.”
Since the bulk of the money comes from a $1.5 million allocation from the state legislature, Grantham named the station in honor of Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. Another $100,000 came from federal COVID-19 relief finds. The Saltillo Board of Aldermen approved up to $300,000 in general obligation bonds to cover the remainder.
Since summer 2001, the Saltillo Fire Department has been housed in a 58,000-square-foot former furniture factory alongside city administration offices and courts, as well as the water, police and public works departments. That building is 50 years old and no longer suits the needs of the fire department.
The Saltillo Fire Department is a hybrid, with a handful of full-time employees augmented by up